“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28, NIV
Perhaps, we may struggle with toxic positivity or try to an extreme extent to keep on the sunny side. What is toxic positivity? Toxic positivity varies for different people but some signals of toxic positivity may include:1
- Trying to force others to be positive and shaming them if they are not
- Covering up or avoiding negative emotions
- Feelings of shame when one does not feel happy
- Hiding feelings or difficulties from other people to appear positive
- Pushing away problems or negative feelings rather than dealing with them appropriately
This can be dangerous for both us and other believers around us. Toxic positivity puts the expectation on us that we need to be happy 100% of the time, which is impossible. There are times when it is completely appropriate to be sorrowful and upset. As Ecclesiastes 3:4 puts it, there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
Joy does not equal constant happiness. These two things are very different as happiness is only a temporary emotion. Toxic positivity may make us think it is wrong to be sad or troubled. This is false.
Even Jesus displayed a whole range of emotions during his ministry on earth. He got emotional, cried and experienced anger. We can too. We do not have to dismiss emotions or cover our problems in a veil of false positivity.
The joy that Jesus offers is much sweeter and lasting than the happiness or positivity we could ever create for ourselves. It gives us hope for the future. No matter our emotions or problems, we have that as a constant during our lifetimes.