Member-only story
Featured
How Overt Positivity Ruins Our Lives
A look at self-help’s favourite and hopeful mantra: Stay positive
Despite the self-inflicted mental and emotional pain I put myself through, one of the few things that remained from my teenage life is my smile.
These days, my smile is more genuine and sincere. Perhaps even a smile that makes you think that I’m…. up to something. But it’s genuine nonetheless.
But back when I was dealing with a depression episode that I forced myself through and the multiple years of keeping everyone at arm's length and self-isolating, that smile served a different purpose.
That smile was something that kept me going. It was a twisted lie for the contradictory mess that was my life. It was a bizarre defense mechanism to keep people from showing any amount of care or concern for me.
It gave off the vibes that I was doing okay and was happy. All the while, I was stressed out, mentally berating myself, and never growing.
Facing that reality changed me and how I view positivity for the rest of my life. As I started my own journey of actual growth and change, one of the first things I looked at was my smile.
My overall positivity.
