People mean well. If you’ve been struggling with chronic illness (and/or mental health), odds are some very well-intentioned people have provided unsolicited advice.
But here’s the thing — sometimes the advice given has an opposite effect of its intent. It is unhelpful. As someone who loves to help, one of the biggest things I’ve learned on the receiving end is this: When advice is given without 1) trust to speak about things and 2) without the recipient’s boundaries in mind, we have what we call toxic positivity.
We’ve probably all aided in this (and most likely unknowingly) — so don’t worry, you’re in good company. Toxic positivity means the uncomfortableness of pain/suffering makes us want to fix the situation ASAP.
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