That week I tried the whole 'positive thinking' thing and it backfired hard

I work in a busy call center in Phoenix, and last month I figured I'd try that whole 'power of positivity' advice everyone swears by during lunch breaks. For three straight days, I smiled through every angry customer call and wrote down three 'good things' at each break, but by Friday I was more stressed out than ever because I was forcing myself to ignore real problems like my broken coffee maker and a coworker stealing my lunch. Has anyone else had a week where trying to follow popular self-help tips just made things worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

emmag221mo agoMost Upvoted

Tried that once and ended up smiling through a flat tire. So relatable.

alex3071mo ago

Wait, hold up. You smiled through a flat tire? Like you were sitting there with a grin on your face while your car was stranded on the side of the road? That's genuinely wild, I can't even picture how that works in real life.

oscarc531mo ago

From past experience, that smile is more of a coping mechanism than actual happiness. You just laugh it off or you'll cry, so you pick the laugh. Grab a tire iron, get it swapped, and that grin usually fades while you're wrestling with the spare.