Here’s Why Hyper-Positivity In The Personal Development Space is Toxic

A pet peeve of mine about personal development content:

Hyper-Positivity

I see a lot of content on social media promoting an always “on” positivity.

Whether it be in the form of quotes or captions, it promotes the belief that one needs to be happy/positive at all times.

The movement is fueled by a lot of “gurus” and “influencers,” and it garners a lot of attention (likes) and engagement (comments).

It also does a great disservice to those who are desperately seeking something and buy into it.

Because sometimes life is shit. And sometimes we feel like shit.

And that’s ok.

It’s ok to feel down, angry, shame, guilt, embarrassment, jealous, or whatever.

Suppose one believes they need to be happy or positive 24/7. In that case, they will make themselves wrong when they inevitably don’t feel happy.

This induces a sense of “what’s wrong with me,” leading to shame.

Shame is the lowest of human emotions; it’s our darkest mental prison.

Hyper positivity turns a blind eye to the complexity and honesty of our shared human experience.