The problem with having a rule that you have to be positive

Is that forced positivity

Can lead you – to use the pejorative –

To feeling a bit shitty

When your fake full-beam smile is dull in comparison

To ‘insprational-quote’ Maddison.

 

Because deep down I knew that being authentic

Was the best way to feel really splendid.

 

It was an admirable thing to ban self-doubt

But actually as effective as banning a drought –

The more I was instructed not to be real

The more negatives I started to feel.

It was like the Stepford Wives except on crack –

The Mindfulness Militia on fast-track,

Self-affirmations sung by a gospel choir

Any skeptics cast on the fire.

 

And deep down I knew that being authentic

Was the best way to feel really splendid.

 

After an unwelcome, unexpected reprieve

I found that it really was much simpler to breathe

Without a noose round my neck ready to tighten

If I cried, frowned, questioned or ever got frightened

So I’m practicing my own positivity –

Without a brand or an army – it’s really just me.

 

And deep down I knew that being authentic

Was the best way to feel really splendid.