I work with a woman that I cannot even make the most casual negative remark around, because it is always met with 'Look on the bright side". Grey, miserable day out? Don’t mention it. I get it, everything can always be worse than it is. It could be a major snowstorm, or a tornado. I could be destitute and homeless, my house could burn down, I could lose my family to a terrorist attack. Lots of bad things happen. It could also be a lot better… bright sunny day, meet the man of my dreams, get a big promotion at work, win the lottery.
When I lost control of my car on an icy road and bounced it off a rock, causing a fair amount of damage, my best friend kept telling to look on the bright side. Yeah, I get it, I wasn’t seriously injured, my vehicle can be repaired, but still, it was massively inconvenient to not have a car because I lived in a remote, rural location, and I had to pay a lot of money I could not afford to get my car running, plus the long term insurance consequences. I didn’t want to look on the bright side, I wanted acknowlegement that I was having a shitty time and something bad had happened to me.
So now, same best friend has had a couple of surgeries to repair her degenerating spine and has been told that she will likely have a permanent restriction of no activity that could cause a fall. She is active and athletic and rides horses, so this is really hard for her. Here is where I add myself to this pit. I really, really wanted to say, “Look on the bright side, at least you can still walk and you’re not in a wheelchair” I didn’t, but I was oh, so close. And then I wanted to add, “See, get it??” When you’ve been dealt a shitty hand, being told you should look at it in a positive light because it could be always be worse, really sucks.
Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle, don’t grumble give a whistle
This will help things turn out for the best
Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the right side of life
Well, yes OP you are correct, but just take into account that:
Life’s a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true.
You’ll see it’s all a show…
What really pisses me off is that the Cheery-Cheri in my office is an absolute CUNT when things aren’t working out for her. Minor inconveniences and daily frustrations make her spazz out, and several times she has left work crying over things like getting a digit wrong in a credit card number and having to call someone back.
But if anyone else is pissed about something, or if they get mad that someone else has caused them frustration:
“Everything’s going to be alright, Hon.”
If I was a far crueler person, I’d wait until she’s having one of her snits and then adopt a syrupy-sweet affectation:
The “look on the bright side” people get on my nerves too. But the most annoying subset of this group is the “look the bright side, you could be me!” people. They can’t let you complain about something without one-upping you with their tales of woe. I just want to punch them sometimes.
That’s tough, but you should see the people I have to deal with. Everything is always the worst thing thing ever - complete drama queens. I seriosuly feel like I’m going to kick one of them on Monday.
I’m one of the guilty parties. My SO just had major surgery, and I console myself with the idea that it could have been much worse.
I don’t tell other people to look at the bright side, and I don’t try to trump their pain with mine. That’s just rude. I listen and give sympathy.
However, when they try to give sympathy about how terrible my life is at the moment, I tell them that it could be so much worse. I’m very good at seeing how much worse things could be, so I’m happy that Bill just had heart bypass surgery instead of getting mangled in a car wreck.
Oddly enough, this annoys some people. I don’t know why. I don’t try to annoy anyone.