Why do we cry? How come love hurts? And what’s a happiness researcher doing talking about sadness, anyway? Helen Russell is a journalist and happiness researcher and How to be Sad is a new podcast based on her book of the same name - exploring why we get sad, what to do when we’re sad, and how we can all get happier by learning to be sad, better. Because let’s be honest – we are in unprecedented times. None of us are where we thought we’d be this time last year and we’re all struggling. We’re having to get better at having difficult conversations and finding ways of handling our sadness. Join Helen as she talks to some high profile people from all walks of life who have done just that. Each week, special guests share their own experiences of everything from heartache to burnout, anxiety to addiction, the differences between sadness and depression - and how they cope. Find out more @MsHelenRussell #HowToBeSad and order How To Be Sad at https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/how-to-be-sad-the-key-to-a-happier-life-helen-russell?variant=39445841018958
https://howtobesadwithhelenrussell.podbean.com
episode 32: Season 4 #7 Whitney Goodman
Whitney Goodman is the radically honest psychotherapist behind the hugely popular Instagram account @sitwithwhit and the author of Toxic Positivity – something she describes ‘as a form of gaslighting’. Here, she explains how meeting struggles with platitudes can shut us down, make us feel shame, or even that we are no longer allowed to feel at all. I wanted to speak to Whitney now, more than ever, at a time when the world is experiencing so much hurt that the idea of burying our heads in the sand and just ‘looking on the bright side’ feels unfathomable. So forget ‘good vibes only’, we’re here for ALL the vibes as we talk about:
- exaggerated claims about positive thinking
- happiness and health: causation vs coronation
- the physical impact of suppressing our emotions
- the shame spiral
- why we don’t always have to be grateful
- how ‘manifesting’ can be damaging
- when affirmations don’t work
- toxic positivity and discrimination
- radical acceptance and how to reach it
- why we’re more creative and more successful when we face up to problems
Follow Whitney @sitwithwhit on Instagram and Twitter, and check out her new book Toxic Positivity.
Share your thoughts on social media @MsHelenRussell and if you’d like more, the paperback of How To Be Sad is out now - wherever you get your books.
Thanks as ever to Joel Grove for production and Matt Clacher at HarperCollins – and I would love it if you could rate, review, subscribe, share, tell anyone who might need to hear this so that we can spread the message: feeling ALL our feelings is OK.