The Rural Mindset Podcast™ Episode 26 - Positivity, Scheduling Emotions & The Difference Between Toxic Positivity and Growth Mindset

by Erica Leniczek June 14, 2022

On this episode of The Rural Mindset Podcast™, I talk about the difference between toxic positivity and growth mindset or empathy. I have found that these trendy terms get overused and used incorrectly all over social media. They often get mixed up with other terms and we need to work on educating so that the language used is streamlined for everyone.

Toxic positivity is when you give someone the silver lining or say "well at least" in a possible attempt to make them feel better. Essentially, you devalue and delegitimize their feelings. When you are showing toxic positivity towards yourself then you're saying "I'm fine" and you don't allow yourself to feel.

I don't want this to be mixed up with empathy and growth mindset. Empathy is your ability to sit with someone, validate, and understand their experience and feelings whether you have gone through that situation yourself. It's that ability to say "wow, that sucks, I'm so sorry you're going through that" without trying to change their experience.

Growth mindset is the ability to show mental agility through a challenge by saying "how can I improve ________?" "what can I do differently" when you're in the middle of a situation.

Sometimes, we do need to be fine in a moment, but what I do is schedule my feelings. I watch the movie Ladder 49 or listen to the song Over You by Miranda Lambert. This helps me to feel my feelings if I'm at work and in the middle of something and need to be able to do my job. It also allows me to feel whatever is happening in my life, validate my feelings, and process my emotions.

I invite you to think about that - what could you do to help yourself instead of pushing down your feelings? How can you validate your own experience?

Listen to Episode 26 NOW!

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