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This e-portfolio focuses on the concept that is "Toxic Positivity"

What is Toxic Positivity?

"The overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state that results in the denial, minimization, and invalidation of the authentic human emotional experience."

Purpose...

The inspiration behind this piece— my artifact of origin— is a narrative based essay I wrote about a psychic experience I had the summer before my senior year of high school. In the essay, I dove into that experience, one which truly impacted me, as it made me come to terms with the error of my ways. To this day, whenever I think of that experience, I bawl my eyes out. Essentially, I was unexpectedly approached by a psychic who told me many truths about myself. The most intense truth, the one which led me to embark on the journey of self-discovery that I am currently on, and the one which is the main muse behind this project, was when she said, [about me, to me], “You are a girl who braves a big smile for the world, but inside you hold so much hurt.” In that moment, I had the realization that I was putting on a façade, one of perpetual happiness, and one which was, ultimately, tearing me apart. I realized that I wasn’t truly happy even though I was pretending so hard to be. I realized that the only way I could ever be happy is by being honest about my pain and struggles; by being authentic. From that experience, I learned that my concept of happiness was severely distorted, and though I have grown so much, I feel that there is so much left to unpack. I wanted to create a project that encompassed this idea of Toxic Positivity in order to bring awareness to the issue. For those that find themselves engaging in Toxic Positivity, I want them to know that they are not alone and that ALL of their emotions are always valid.

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