Society puts a high value on positivity, but is there such a thing as too much optimism? Is it possible to be both optimistic and realistic? Join the #MedHumChat community on July 7 as we discuss The Power and Pitfalls of Optimism.
Michael J Fox: No Time Like The Future: A Optimist Considers Mortality
“Have I oversold optimism as a panacea, commodified hope? Have I been an honest broker with the Parkinson’s community? The understanding I’ve reached with Parkinson’s is sincere, but the expression of it risks being glib. I have made peace with the disease, and I might have presumed that others had, too. In telling other patients, “Chin up! It will be okay!” did I look to them to validate my optimism? Is it because I needed to believe it myself? Things don’t always turn out. Sometimes things turn shitty. I have to tell people the whole deal.”
Read Full Passage (pp 159-160, 226)
Allyson Chiu: Time to ditch ‘toxic positivity,’ experts say: ‘It’s okay not to be okay.’
“While cultivating a positive mind-set is a powerful coping mechanism, toxic positivity stems from the idea that the best or only way to cope with a bad situation is to put a positive spin on it and not dwell on the negative.”