Appreciating Life’s Harder Moments

Toxic positivity can be problematic because it almost invalidates the pain one feels, and it implies that the person to blame for the pain is the one who feels it. Bad things happen, and it is okay to recognize it. However, an alternative to the almost compulsive urge to “look on the bright side” that toxic positivity encourages is to see the world through an artist’s lens. As sculptor August Rodin had put it, "To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.” Viewing yourself and your life through a lens of art can allow you to slow down and notice bigger themes taking place, recognize with greater ease how the dark helps the light stand out, admire your own agency and the journey taken while building yourself into the person you are today, and to appreciate what isn’t immediately pleasing to experience. It takes practice to develop an eye for art, and it takes even more time to see apply that to what is around you, but when you get good at it, life has a greater sense of purpose and depth.

"To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature"

~ Auguste Rodin