Toxic Positivity

 

Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

The toxic positivity on Instagram (and probably elsewhere on social media) is astounding. Or more specifically, toxic christian positivity. I often wonder about the people who post things like “trust God even when it’s hard!” Have they gone through anything “hard?” Have they been kicked out of their home & divorced by their husband of 28 years because he was tired of “taking care” (aka dealing with) of them? Have they spent the last 28 years with a narcissistic man who screwed them up so bad they didn’t even realize it? Who controlled everything and now have no idea what it is to be a person?

Are they praising Jesus while they’re living with their 72 year old retired parents, while all of their belongings are in a house that is no longer theirs, while the man who promised forever is doing “really good” without them? In the midst of their chronic illnesses, their inability to work and support themselves and their 16 year old youngest daughter and don’t qualify for state aid? No home, no prospect of a home, no vehicle, no money, nothing. 

When the pain is so bad and their mother insists they just need to get out and exercise? During the tears that fall all night and the sleep that never comes? Along the three hour drives to pick up or drop off their child for week-long parental visits. Feeling displaced, abandoned & useless? Are they posting their happy little videos during this time? Are they even old enough to have experienced life? They post “Jesus is enough,” when they have every comfort known to man? Promising others that blessings are on the way, that prosperity is coming even now? Have they even read the Bible? 

Show me someone in the midst ... not someone who got to the other side. Someone in the during, someone hurting now. Questioning everything. Someone like me. Someone with no identity. Someone without perfectly straight, blinding white teeth. Find me someone screaming at the sky.

*Please note I am a Christian and I fully trust God, but I also believe in experiencing and dealing with all your emotions and not just shoving them into hole or putting a bandaid on them. So I don't want to hear how wrong you think I am.