Toxic Positivity IS NOT Always Welcomed | SOVEREIGN Magazine® Podcast with Michelle Vande Hey

Trigger Warning: In this episode of the SOVEREIGN Magazine® Podcast, host Nicole George reconnects with Michelle Vande Hey, SOVEREIGN Magazine®’s Love Your Life Columnist, to explore the October New Moon theme of Constructed Reality through Michelle’s article, “Liberation for One. Liberation for All.”

Michelle shares how the death of her son shaped her view that platitudes like “everything happens for a reason” and other spiritual explanations can feel invalidating in grief, even when something meaningful comes after tragedy.

Together they discuss how manifestation language can become harmful when it implies people “created” experiences like homelessness, illness, or loss, and how toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing can discount real emotions.

Nicole also shares her recent health journey with candida overgrowth as a reminder to bring compassion and care to the language used around sensitive situations.

Timestamps:

00:00 Trigger Warning

01:06 Meet Michelle Vande Hey

01:53 Why This Phrase Hurts

02:49 Grief and Platitudes

04:25 Loss and Invalidation

05:56 Homelessness and Blame

06:34 Manifestation Nuance