The term toxic positivity is no longer a strange thing among modern humans. This term is used to refer the words that are positive but can damage a person’s mental healths. A psychologist said that toxic positivity does sound encouraging. But, it actually makes other people sad because it’s not validated.
We often hear these words which are considered toxic positivities as encouragement, but they end up belittling their sadness. The psychologist added that when listening, it is important to apply empathy or understand the condition of the person as a whole. “Toxic positivity makes us suppress negative emotions by trying to accept positive emotions. In fact, we also need to accept negative emotions so they don’t accumulate,” he said.
Toxic positivity makes people afraid of negative thinking, afraid to tell other people, isolate themselves, and increase the risk of stress and anxiety. Here are 5 ‘spirits’ that are toxic positivity and we can try to avoid:

  1. There are still people who are more difficult than you” This expression makes friends or relatives who tell the story feel that the problem is minimized. You don’t know how much effort or struggle he is and what might make his condition worse. You can replace it with “I can see and feel how hard you are struggling with everything.”
  2. Well, don’t think too much about it” When someone tries to tell you, it means he is trying to get rid of that thought by sharing it. It doesn’t make sense for you to answer like that. You can appreciate it with “Thank you for telling me.”
  3. Well, don’t be sad. Very mellow.” No one wants to be sad, no one wants to be called mellow. Saying this means turning a blind eye that a friend or friend is having problems and trusting you as a storyteller. You can practice saying “What can I do to calm you down
  4. It’s still better, if I…” Competitions can occur anywhere, including who is the most miserable. No wonder if this sentence can be a mainstay when someone tells his sadness to show that he is not the most miserable. In fact, this only makes sadness pile up and not validated. Grief is not about competition, and the person telling the story doesn’t want to compete with anyone. You can return it with a hug or acknowledge that what they are going through is tough.
  5. You can do it, it’s not that difficult.” This sentence often appears with the intention of helping and strengthening, but are you aware that this sentence is actually toxic positivity? The word ‘it’s not that difficult’ means to see from your own eyes and not consider the condition of the person. It could be that he doesn’t have the resources you have, and a different experience than you’ve been through. If you want to encourage, you can use the phrase “I believe you can, don’t forget to take a break. The important thing is that you’ve done what’s best for you, huh.”