Toxic Positivity

Often times while browsing the internet, we are bombarded with posts about constantly staying “positive”. No matter your circumstance, you’re told to keep a smile on your face and shrug it off. Every day you’re supposed to wake up at 5am, go to the gym, have a healthy breakfast, clean your entire house, work your 9-5, and then come home and do more cleaning and organizing. If you slack off of this routine for a while, you start to feel guilty because all you see online is people ALWAYS being productive. But this way of life isn’t really realistic. 

How can we be expected to be on the top of our game every minute of every day when life honestly sucks? Not to sound like a downer, but really… life SUCKS. It’s a cycle of challenge after challenge. Life is relentless, and it absolutely does not care how you are doing. Those hard days just keep coming. There is no way you can possibly keep a smile through everything and look at everything in a positive aspect. 

I will admit, I am guilty of watching those videos on youtube to help motivate me. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Using those videos as motivation and inspiration to take care of things in your life is a very good thing, however, you can’t let them consume you. If you watch these videos too often, you might start to feel like you’re not doing enough everyday, and it may cause a burnout because you’ll feel pressured to keep going. 

While on this topic, I’ve noticed the “that girl” trend getting more and more popular. A lot of those videos make it seem like these people have their lives completely together and if you want to be “that girl”, you need to follow a certain routine everyday. But the way I see it, being “that girl” is doing the things that bring peace and happiness to your life, and that looks different for everyone. Some people like to wake up super early in the morning, and some like to sleep in late. As long as you’re still taking care of yourself, your routine doesn’t really matter. As long as it works for YOU, that’s all you need. Don’t force yourself into doing things that don’t make you happy. (although you can’t avoid those annoying chores, like dishes for example.) 

Lately, I’ve been stuck in a rut and haven’t been keeping up with some things. It’s okay to stray off of your routine, as long as you don’t let yourself get too deep into a hole. You need to have at least some discipline. I’m working on getting myself back into a healthy and mindful routine that works for me, and that’s all that matters. <3