Positivity is a tool that works when the job calls for it. The trouble starts when it becomes a substitute.

Alt Text: Hand-drawn smile held in front of a real face, illustrating how forced positivity hides a feeling

You have heard it in the worst moments of your life. Here is why it lands the way it does, and four things you can say instead when you don't know what to say.

Alt text:

Two people in dark coats walking side by side down an open road that climbs toward distant mountains