Balancing Optimism and Authenticity for Athlete Well-being
Sometimes we seem to forget that athletes are more than just glorious vessels of strength and entertainment; that they are still humans. They are passionate individuals and often under tremendous pressure, and they deserve to be handled with health in mind. By creating a supportive environment where athletes can communicate and express themselves authentically, we can guide them to better physical and mental health, thus improving their performance and building stronger team dynamics. Achieving this requires a careful balance of optimism with realism.
We know that having a pessimistic mindset is counterproductive, unrealistic, and that it’s important to use positivity to uplift, encourage, and motivate people. While positivity is extremely important for mental health and is a powerful tool in sports, it can be taken to extremes and have negative effects on both physical and mental health, making it equally as detrimental as a negative mindset. When positivity dismisses someone’s experience entirely, it turns toxic and can even overlap with gaslighting, causing individuals to doubt their own reality. Addressing toxic positivity involves fostering a balanced approach that acknowledges both positive and negative experiences. Encouraging open communication, providing genuine support, and promoting mental health awareness are essential steps in creating a healthier sports environment. Whether you’re on the giving or receiving end of toxic positivity, read on to learn how to address this important issue.
Is Toxic Positivity Really That Bad?
Toxic positivity can result in unrealistic expectations of results, leading to an exaggerated emotional letdown when things don't work out, or unrealistically promote that someone should have a constant positive attitude. Such unrealistic expectations can make athletes feel like there's something wrong with them for not feeling blissful, or it can cause them to feel inadequate when they face natural setbacks and failures. Telling someone to simply “stay positive” across all situations may be well-meaning advice, but it can be a dangerous overgeneralization and dismissal of genuine emotions and experiences. This leads to a lack of authentic support and understanding for an athlete’s mental or physical health and leaves athletes to feel pressured to hide, mask, or stuff their fears, disappointments, and frustrations for fear of judgement for not maintaining a positive façade or due to feeling they would burden their team if they expressed their struggles.
Examples of Toxic Positivity in Sports
Ø Pretending everything is okay when it’s not.
Ø Emotional suppression via stuffing, masking, or hiding of emotions.
Ø Minimizing others’ experiences instead of acknowledging their emotions or pain.
Ø Shaming others for expressing negativity or not being positive all the time.
Ø Ignoring pain/injuries, encouraging athletes to push through pain no matter how serious the injury.
Ø Check In, Check Out: Knowing an athlete is struggling, telling them to “be positive” or “push through” and then never following up in order to maintain an “everything’s fine” image.
"We think that denying our emotions makes us stronger and more resilient, but the research shows that it actually makes us LESS resilient." — Brené Brown
Consequences
Mental Health Impact:
Ø Increased pressure to always appear happy and motivated.
Ø Burnout from ignoring mental fatigue and stress, reducing overall enjoyment of the sport.
Ø Feeling guilty for negative emotions, believing it’s seen as a sign of weakness.
Ø Increased pressure, stress, depression, and anxiety from constantly pushing away negative emotions in order to always appear happy and motivated.
Ø Feelings of isolation due to feeling their emotions are invalidated and unwelcome.
Physical Health:
Ø Higher risk of worsened injury, delayed recovery, or even long-term health consequences from pushing through pain.
Ø Drug and alcohol abuse to cope with physical and emotional pain, discomfort, and frustration.
Ø Risk of illness and disease. Chronic and persistent emotional stress has been linked to a low immune system suppression, ulcers, gastrointestinal issues, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and more.
Team Dynamics & Performance:
Ø Lower performance, errors, memory problems, and poor decision-making caused by unaddressed mental or physical health struggles such as anxiety, depression, burnout, and pain, affecting athletic success.
Ø Inauthentic relationships with fellow teammates or coaches due to individuals feeling they cannot express their true emotions, resulting in:
Ø Reduced team cohesion and trust.
So, what do we do when we need to "build up" an athlete? What about when an athlete is upset and causing themselves or even their teammates to spiral downwards into a pit of unproductive negativity? A balance between acknowledging an athlete’s emotions and maintaining a positive attitude is key to creating a better and healthier team environment. Below we explore ways to respect someone’s experience, ground them in reality, and create a healthy optimistic attitude in order to navigate through the triumphs of life and sports while avoiding toxic positivity.
How to Avoid Toxic Positivity
So, what do we do when we need to build an athlete up? What about when an athlete is upset and causing themselves or even their teammates to spiral downwards into a pit of unproductive negativity? A balance between acknowledging an athlete’s emotions and maintaining a positive attitude is key to creating a better and healthier team environment. Below we explore ways to respect someone’s experience, ground them in reality, and create a healthy optimistic attitude in order to navigate through the triumphs of life and sports by implementing healthy optimism and avoiding toxic positivity.
Validate emotions by practicing empathy, offering understanding rather than dismissal or harshly judging the athlete’s feelings.
Encourage authenticity by creating a space for honest conversations about emotions, mental health, and physical well-being.
Offer support and resources for an athlete who is struggling with their mental or physical health.
Realistic Response to Challenges via Healthy Optimism: Inspire and encourage athletes as they face adversity or failures by teaching them to have a healthy, realistic optimism grounded in reality. Acknowledge hardships and challenges but use realistic optimism to work towards positive or better outcomes. Discuss failures and setbacks but build the athlete's confidence to work towards their goals no matter how discouraging a situation might seem in the moment.
Check In Often: Continue to follow up with athletes to see if they are still struggling with something or need any additional support.
If you are the person receiving toxic positivity, we hope that by now you are empowered and encouraged to speak up and advocate for yourself. Opening up to friends, family, coaches, teammates, or finding resources and providers to help you on your journey through life and sports is a giant step towards caring for your physical and mental health. You deserve it. You are worth it.
Conclusion
Positivity involves focusing on the positive aspects of situations and keeping a positive outlook. Toxic positivity, on the other hand, is insistent on keeping a positive facade regardless of the situation, often leading to the suppression of emotions and invalidation of genuine feelings and can be detrimental to mental and physical health. Healthy optimism is a form of positivity that is grounded in reality and acknowledges human emotions while maintaining a hopeful outlook that the future will bring better outcomes or expecting positive results, yet it is realistic and prepared for difficulties by recognizing challenges and building a healthy confidence to accept and overcome such obstacles. While positivity is a powerful tool for resilience and well-being, it’s crucial to recognize when it becomes toxic, and we must acknowledge this important balance.
By embracing the full spectrum of human emotions, we can foster more authentic connections and a healthier emotional landscape. Rather than telling athletes to “buck up” or “don’t be negative,” remind them that success and happiness aren’t the results of the absence of problems, but rather success and happiness are formed by learning how to handle life’s obstacles. Toxic positivity creates an athlete that shoves away their physiological or psychological pain until they inevitably break, whereas healthy optimism builds a mentally stronger, healthier, and more resilient athlete and human being.
Our team at MHAA continually updates blog posts as new information becomes available, ensuring the quality of our content.
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