I was scrolling through Instagram today and caught a glimpse of this quote before I could see where it came from:
“Choose realistic optimism over toxic positivism.”
I have been getting quieter and quieter on social media for this reason. I am tired of the all toxic positivity I see. Don’t get me wrong. Being a positive person is a REALLY GOOD thing. It feels like it has gotten out of control and I think people need to be a bit more realistic at times.
I want to qualify for Kona. It is a dream of mine. I am not athletically gifted, have a full time job (or 3), and a family to manage. I can be as positive as I want about this goal, but that isn’t enough to make it happen. People in my worls can tell me how positive they are that I will make this happen, but that won’t do it either. Instead I choose realistic optimism to guide my feelings about this goal. I do what I can to work towards it but I also recognize, it may not be in the cards for me. Kona isn’t in the cards for everyone, no matter how much you have a positive attitude about it.
Please don’t misunderstood this post. I am not telling you you can’t do something. But if you are setting a goal for yourself that is big, please be realistic about your situation. And if needed, maybe adjust your goals a little bit. That doesn’t mean forget the huge one. It means set up some benchmark goals to get you to the big one. Break it up in to manageable achievable chunks!
The tricky part of this is how do you interact with others who are being toxically positive versus realistically optimistic. I don’t know that answer. For me, it has been silence and a bit of withdrawal because I don’t want to be a Negative Nancy (sorry to you Nancys out there). Not the best approach, but it is the best I got!
See Becca Try to Tri 