What is toxic positivity and what are some examples of it?
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Toxic positivity is kind of a quasi religious mindset when a person believes that everyone (including themselves) should always behave and communicate positively (like smiling, cheering, saying how happy you are etc) regardless of the situation.
It’s an over generalization and misinterpretation of the fact that in general being positive is good and denies the natural need of negative human feelings such as sadness or exhaustion.
Toxic positive people are often behaving in a passive agresssive or rejective way towards those who show negative emotions, claiming that others negativity cancels their positivity. They either demand to maintain a positive facade (“always smile when I’m here”) or reject those in need (“come back when you stopped crying”).
The toxic part is exactly this kind of message: “you are only welcome if you have good times (or pretend to have), but I don’t care about you when you have bad times and need help”. They also suppress their own negative emotions that are healthy and needed for example in mourning.
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