I remember sitting in a meeting, blinking back tears behind a carefully composed face. Our team had just been restructured, again. My workload had doubled. And my manager? More concerned with “team spirit” than the reality of burnout.
When I finally voiced my concerns, what was the response? “Let’s keep it positive, shall we?” “Look on the bright side!” “At least you still have a job.”
Toxic positivity in a nutshell. I wasn’t looking for a pep talk, I was looking for a lifeline.
But in the corporate world, uncomfortable emotions are often labeled as & negative energy.& There’s this unspoken rule: Smile through the stress. Be grateful even when it hurts. Don’t complain, just cope.
So, I did. For too long.
I buried the anxiety under false gratitude. I swallowed my exhaustion with a forced smile. I said “I’m fine” when I was anything but. And do you know what that kind of emotional repression does? It eats you from the inside out.
Because here’s the truth: pretending everything’s okay doesn’t make it okay. It just isolates the people who are struggling.
I used to think staying positive made me strong. But I’ve learned that real strength is being honest, even when it’s uncomfortable. Real courage is saying, “This isn’t working,” and advocating for change instead of sugar-coating survival.
As a life and career coach, I work with professionals who are drowning in this same culture of forced smiles and fake motivation. People who are told to be “solution-focused” when what they really need is to be seen. Heard. Supported.
So this Mental Health Awareness Month, I want to say what no corporate memo ever will: You are allowed to be not okay. You’re allowed to speak up without being labelled “negative.” And “positive vibes only” is not a mental health strategy; it’s a denial tactic dressed in good intentions.
Let’s stop weaponizing positivity.
Let’s create workplaces where honesty isn’t punished, and emotions aren’t edited for the comfort of others.
Because pretending pain doesn’t exist? That’s not positivity. That’s silence.