Sometimes, when we comfort or encourage people, we might veer into the toxic positivity realm. We say things like "Everything happens for a reason" and "You have to look for the silver lining." Clinical psychologist Jamie Long told CNN that this kind of talk dismisses the person's feelings.
We try to offer perspective, but what people need when they're down is validation. Long and her colleague Samara Quintero offer some things to say to truly comfort someone else, like "This is really hard, I'm thinking of you" or "I'm here for you, good or bad."
"Sometimes we just need to say 'Yeah, me too,' or 'That makes total sense,'" Long explained further. "It's allowing someone to express something that's authentic, even if it's uncomfortable or even if it's hard to hear." Basically, it's better to offer a person a shoulder to cry on than try to solve their problems.
We don't want you to be toxically positive, Pandas, but we'd love for you to have a good minute or two while scrolling through some wholesome stories. Let us know which ones touched you the most by upvoting them! And if you'd like more posts from the "Wholesome Meets The Internet" page, head over here, here, here, and here!
