Tragic optimism, says Emily Esfahani Smith, offers a perspective on adversity that helps people weather crises with more resilience and grow as a result of them. First defined by Austrian psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl in 1985, proponents of tragic optimism maintain there is space to experience both the good and the bad, and that we can grow from each.Įxperts suggest that this kind of philosophy may be exactly what we need to cope as we’re still trudging through the pandemic – and may help us once we’re on the other side, too. ‘ Tragic optimism’ posits there is hope and meaning to be found in life while also acknowledging the existence of loss, pain and suffering. Instead, suppressing negative emotions can actually make us feel worse.īy contrast, another mindset approach boasts a more realistic framing. Persistent reminders to reflect on ‘how good we have it’ in the midst of strife and struggle don’t make sadness, fear or anxiety dissipate, research shows. Plus, there are few things more grating than encountering a toxic positivist when you’re grappling with grim reality.Īnd failing to acknowledge hardships can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. Of course, staying upbeat and expressing gratitude are hardly adverse practices, but this unrelenting optimism – known as ‘toxic positivity’ – paints negative emotions as a failure or weakness. Yet there have been differences in the ways we’ve approached time spent in isolation.įor some, positivity has been essential to coping with the crisis – many have relished a chance to slow down and reevaluate, felt grateful to still have a job or kept the good things in perspective (even while balancing virtual schooling, remote work and keeping the family safe). ![]() Send us feedback.Over the last year, as the pandemic has morphed from terrifying to inconvenient to long-term life-altering event, our coping mechanisms have had to adapt and evolve. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'antidote.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2022 Yin says it’s hard to treat symptoms because there’s no specific antidote.įox19, The Enquirer, 23 Sep. 2022 The initially explosive, then increasingly progressive forward thrust has its antidote in the simply stupefying carbon-ceramic brakes. 2022 Faith is the antidote of fear, and BYU, at its best, generates faith that dispels fear and cures anxiety. ![]() 2020 The movie works hard to be a soulfully offbeat kiddie entertainment, an antidote to the gimcrack cynicism that has ruled too many cartoon-cutup-in-the-land-of-live-action Hollywood products. ![]() 2022 As her world narrowed to the confines of her couch, her home, and the hospital, 50 Adventures offered an antidote. 2022 Community activists are warning spring breakers of a surge in recreational drugs being laced with the dangerous opioid fentanyl, and offered them an antidote for overdoses _ which have risen nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic.įox News, 9 Apr. 2022 McGowan believes these outlets are the antidote to bad information-the hyperbole and lies that proliferate in Americans’ social media feeds and promote ideas mostly from the ideological right. Recent Examples on the Web That is why the work of Walter Karp, a passionate scholar of American political history who offered a bracing antidote to the popular beliefs of his own era, is so useful today.Īndrew Cockburn, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct.
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