Feel stuff, it's a lot better than not feeling stuff.

I have a weird passion: I really want people to acknowledge the things that make them sad. I don't mean that they should just unload all of their feelings on random strangers (we've all met people like that and it is UNCOMFORTABLE), I mean just being honest with yourself when things are tough.

I'm a positive person. According to Strengths Finders, my number two strength is positivity. I usually see the brightside of most situations and like to say things like, "well, the good new is... (+ hopefully something that gets a small chuckle or eye roll)," or "at least (+ some horrible thing that didn't happen or something to be grateful for)". Sometimes being positive is really helpful. Sometimes it's really helpful to me. And sometimes it really ignores struggle that will be best healed by being honest about it.

I know how tempting it is to want to just move on from pain and move on to cheer, gratitude, happiness, positivity. I know the pressure to not feel sad. I know all that in me, and so I find that I notice when other people are doing it too. Sometimes I have to consciously resist the temptation to be positive, because I can tell that someone needs the complex feelings to be noticed and not brightside-ed away, whether or not they want it to be.

It's not that there's no room for positivity, it's just that acknowledging something is sad alongside it is important to me.