Why A Positive Mindset Alone Won’t Change Things

Angela M Ward
5 min readMar 7, 2019

Positivity can sometimes mask the truth…

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

“Stay positive.”

“Think good thoughts.”

“It takes more muscles to frown than to smile.”

We often hear these expressions about optimism but are they a little overrated?

A positive mindset is a great thing to have but you can run the risk of using optimism as a shield against the reality of the world. If you use optimism to mask your feelings and the truth, it can become a security blanket.

I think optimism also runs the risk of making us passive. We can be optimistic that a situation will turn around but not take enough action to influence and change that situation.

I know that optimism only helped me so much in a job I hated. I was hoping for things to change, daydreaming about the day that I would land a new job and finally walk away.

But I couldn’t hold out any longer.

Confronting my harsh reality was hard but it was one of the most liberating things I’ve ever done. When I faced the reality of my situation and realized it wasn’t going to change — at least not any time soon — I finally made the decision to take action by leaving and exploring another path.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” -Viktor E. Frankl

Taking action put the balance of power back in my hands. It was only after I was out of that negative situation that I was able to create a more optimistic outlook on life.

This is why I think positivity alone doesn’t work. But when it’s paired with a solid plan of action, it becomes something very powerful.

Here are the reasons why I think positive thinking is overrated.

Positive Affirmations Don’t Always Work

Angela M Ward

Communications and digital marketing professional, interested in creativity, personal development and mindful living. Top Writer in Reading.