I’m probably a bright side person. It’s mostly something to say instead of, “Quit your bitching and moaning over every single, tiny hiccup in life. We’ve all got problems, I don’t need to hear about yours every minute of every day.” Major things like debilitating surgery (as mentioned above) and death of an immediate family member are exempt from this. Minor things like busted hot water heaters and sore throats are not.
Years ago when my car committed suicide by Pennsylvania deer out in the middle of nowhere, the guy who picked me up so I could get to a tow truck just kept saying, “At least it wasn’t a bear!” to console me.
Which is now what I use instead of “Look on the bright side.”
At least it wasn’t a bear.