80. What is Emotional Perfectionism and Making Peace With Toxic Positivity with Dr. Neeta Bhushan

How often do we answer “How are you?” with “I’m fine” - even when things are definitely not fine?  Ok, you don’t need to dish all your troubles to a perfect stranger, but why are we always pretending everything is great, even when we might be going through a really sh*tty time? I recently went on TV to talk about the idea of toxic positivity and what we can learn from being more vulnerable and authentic with our emotions. 

So many of us growing up heard things like "suck it up" or "don't cry" when we were upset. What if instead, we could say: "Damn, that SUCKED. And I need to acknowledge that and process the suck, rather than sweep it under a rug”? Let’s get into it and unpack emotional perfection and how to rethink your coping mechanisms in this episode. 

What I get into in this episode… 

- What is toxic positivity? 

- Why toxic positivity used to be my coping mechanism, and what’s changed

- Why I’m so passionate about embracing “that sucked, now what?”

- How vulnerability is the way through victim and victor states 

- What kids can teach us about experiencing our emotions

- And so much more

Things I reference in this episode and more episodes like it… 

- This article on emotional perfectionism from the Washington Post 

- Episode 9: On being enough with Marisa Peer

- Episode 38 Exploring Creativity & The Answers are Within with Amber Rae

- Episode 77 How To Be Loving, Find Forgiveness, and Cultivate Self-Compassion with Danielle Laporte

- Episode 70: How To Be Brave in Creating Deep Friendships and Meaningful Support Circles

If you loved this episode, then you will definitely want to pre-order your copy of my book, That Sucked. Now What?. When you do, you’ll get access to exclusive freebies, including a 40-page accompanying guidebook and a free ticket to my virtual launch party!