Have you ever scrolled through social media and felt a pang of guilt for not being relentlessly positive? It's like this constant pressure to slap a happy filter on everything, even when life feels like a tangled mess.

We're told to "look on the bright side," to "stay positive no matter what," but sometimes, that well-intentioned advice can actually shut down our real emotions. It's like we're building a wall of forced optimism, preventing ourselves from truly processing pain, grief, or even just a bad day.

And in the end, that pressure to be perpetually cheerful can leave us feeling more isolated and misunderstood than if we'd just been allowed to feel what we actually feel.