#false positivity

[howifeltabouthim]

Everyone in his family . . . believed in stoicism as if it were a religion. They all spent an extraordinary amount of time straightening their backbones and stiffening their upper lips. It seemed quite exhausting. Ben couldn't do it any more. God knows he'd tried. 'Oh, for heaven's sake, Benedict,' his mother said. 'Pull yourself together.' She had run out of patience with him long ago. 'Always look on the bright side,' she had regularly (and rather relentlessly) counselled her offspring throughout their childhood, an injunction that made her seem warmer than she was. In Ben's opinion, if you spent too long trying to look on the bright side you eventually became dazzled and couldn't see anything properly at all.

Kate Atkinson, from Death at the Sign of the Rook

[unwelcome-ozian]

[paleshadowofadragon]

Unpopular opinion: The “tag (number) of (adjective) people” posts make others feel like shit and are a popularity contest.

It’s not spreading positivity, it’s making people that already feel isolated feel worse.

[mspixiepixie]

If you have depression or anxiety and have ever had someone tell you to just calm down or to just be happy. Tell them to fuck off.

You do not owe anyone false happiness or pretending to be calm.

You do not owe anyone a facade of bullshit positive emotion just because other people can’t handle your mental illness.

It’s ok to not be ok.

False positivity is more hurtful than helpful.

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

The first video I saw Pewdie Pie in was his video about false positivity. Which is interesting because before that I was under the impression that he was supposed to be very shallow. So, seeing that was an interesting contrast.

[basic-average-fool]

duolingo is lying to me i think

[amythicaldragyn]

Gonna just rant here cause screaming into a void seems a bit better than posting anywhere else.  When you post something to show how anxious and fucked up you are feeling, don’t respond with the positives because when someone is THAT honest with stuff? Means they can’t see the positives right now. They see doom, gloom, hopelessness. Sure, positivity can help, but have a conversation about how someone is feeling or dealing first, before jumping into the typical “everything will be okay” response. Let the person speak, have a conversation, get to a point where the feelings are expressed and thoughts are heard, before that point because it feels so fucking dismissive when the immediate response is “at least it’s not _____.”  Tis all. My mental health is a fucking mess and I trust very few people with this because of this unhealthy response. 

Go ahead, cut me down, whatever you like. But I am just so tired to be met with almost fake positivity instead of a proper conversation/check in. 

[statique-esque]

Can anyone else like.. hear the false positive in people’s voices?

Like I KNOW you’re lying to me, I can tell because I’M a liar and I can HEAR the lie