This is not a debate.
Several mental and personality disorders exist where the ability to just “think positive thoughts” instead of negative ones on command is impossible. I know. I have one of them.
There are times in life when ,yes, the only thing you can do is buckle down and tell yourself it’s going to be alright. But to offer “think positive thoughts” as some sort of life-hack is grade-A bullshit. It’s also condescending.
Imagine that a bird has just smashed through your home window. You have no money to fix the window. None. Furthermore, you now have to pick up a bunch of broken glass and a dead bird. Then you have to cover your lovely home window with a sheet or something until you do have money to fix it, which could take a while. Now imagine that you vent to your best friend and their response is, “you just need to think positive thoughts.”
When you have something in your head that’s not functioning properly, it’s like having a broken window with no way to fix it. And then your friend is telling you to magic the break away with happy emotions and smiles. Would you want to punch them? I totally want to punch those people.
To be fair, sometimes people don’t know how to respond to a continuously negative situation. That’s why therapists and psychiatrists are around. But the people that upset me are the ones who refuse to believe that “mind over matter” won’t work if your mind is busted.
Positive thinking and aspirations are important to success. But don’t discount yourself if you slog through a crap-ton of negative. For that situation, I have some advice of my own…
- Buy a video game system.
- Murder something violently (offline). Maybe curse at it. Definitely curse at it. Stop thinking and let some anger out.
- Now think happy thoughts.
Also, see a therapist. They have drugs for this sort of thing. And no…they don’t get you high.