General Well-being, Mental Health

Toxic positivity

The two words do not really sound like they should go together. Positive is seen as a good thing, the definition describes it as someone who tends to have an optimistic outlook. Someone who tends to, which does not mean that they always do have an optimistic outlook. I would say I am a positive person. Some may even say too positive, but I do not see the world in rainbows and unicorns. But what if I am too positive for some people and what does it mean for them?

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General Well-being, Mental Health, Uncategorized

Is physical contact still important even in a pandemic?

I have done a lot of thinking about this one for some time and knew it was something I wanted to delve into more, especially in the current climate. It took me some thinking and time to set my mind on what part of contact with others to even look at.

We have five senses; Sight (visual), Sound (audio), Touch, Smell and Taste (last 3 comprising of you kinesthetic senses). The first of our senses to develop even before we are born is the one of touch. It has come down the line from our primate relatives and it was a distinct part for their development and their grooming process. As a baby, we need and crave the emotional stimulations from physical touch, especially that of our mothers. We learn from a young age how touch can relieve stress and offer comfort and safety. Studies have shown how the impact of these interactions, or lack of, when a baby is young can affect a person’s physical and mental well-being when they are older. Something to think about, right?

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General Well-being, Uncategorized

Positive in failure!

Collins dictionary describes failure as “a lack of success in doing or achieving something”. Two questions you can ask yourself, are we meant to always achieve what we want? And why is failure a bad thing anyway?

If we always achieve what we want, how do we know if we actually deserve it and if it is what we want? When we talk about failure, we talk about the lack of success. But every situation has different angles to look at it. For example J.K. Rowling, widely known as the author of Harry Potter, one of the best selling authors of today, had her first book rejected by 12 different publishing companies. At the time, she was living on benefits and did not give up at the first hurdle of failure. She is now a millionaire. So, although the first 12 times she didn’t achieve what she wanted, she kept going. She believed that her time was coming and that sometimes you need to fail to succeed. One of the main skills I believe she displayed during this time was resilience.

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