How to Stay Positive When Everything Feels Negative (Udemy.com)
Build resilience, manage negative thinking, and stay grounded during tough moments.
Created by: Deborah Grayson Riegel
Last updated May 2025
What you will learn
- Manage negative thinking patterns
- Build sustainable positivity
- Strengthen emotional resilience
- Reframe challenges without minimizing them
- Avoid positivity myths and traps
- Create daily habits that support well‑being
How it compares
Against the other 1,107 rated Udemy courses in Personal Development on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 54% of them
- Reviews2,263#136 of 1,108 by number of reviews
- Length1.2 hoursshorter than 80% of them
- Last updatedMay 2025more recently than 50% of them
Course Description
Staying positive does not mean pretending everything is fine.
When work is difficult, the news feels overwhelming, plans are disrupted, or you are dealing with circumstances you cannot control, advice to “just stay positive” can feel unrealistic and even frustrating.
This course takes a more practical approach.
You’ll learn strategies for building a more constructive mindset without ignoring legitimate problems or forcing yourself to feel cheerful. The goal is not toxic positivity. It is developing habits that help you regain perspective, direct your attention more intentionally, and respond to difficult circumstances in ways that support your wellbeing and effectiveness.
You’ll explore how your thoughts, attention, language, and daily habits can influence the way you experience challenging situations. You’ll also learn how to recognize patterns such as catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, and focusing so heavily on what is wrong that you lose sight of what is still possible.
Throughout the course, you’ll learn how to:
• Practice realistic positivity without denying difficult emotions
• Notice thinking patterns that make negative situations feel even harder
• Shift attention toward what is useful and within your control
• Reframe challenges without pretending they are easy
• Reduce unproductive rumination
• Build small habits that support resilience
• Use gratitude in a realistic, meaningful way
• Protect yourself from unnecessary negativity
• Respond more intentionally to setbacks
• Find constructive next steps when circumstances feel discouraging
You do not need to become a naturally positive person to benefit from these strategies. Positivity is not a personality trait you either have or do not have. Many aspects of it can be practiced.
Whether you are dealing with workplace challenges, uncertainty, setbacks, difficult relationships, or simply a period when everything seems heavier than usual, this course will give you practical tools for navigating negativity with greater perspective and resilience.
You can start with one small practice at a time.
Instructor Details
- 4.6 Rating
2,263 Reviews
Deborah Grayson Riegel
Deborah Grayson Riegel is a keynote speaker, executive coach, author, and leadership communication expert who helps professionals communicate more effectively, lead with confidence, and navigate the everyday challenges of working with people. She teaches at Wharton, Duke, Columbia, and Peking University and has worked with leaders and teams at organizations including Google, Amazon, BlackRock, and NASA.
Deb is also a contributor to Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, Fast Company, and Forbes, where she writes about leadership, communication, workplace relationships, and professional development.
Throughout her career, Deb has helped professionals at every level build the practical people skills that make work better—from communicating clearly and confidently to giving feedback, managing teams, navigating difficult conversations, facilitating effective meetings, presenting ideas, and adapting to an evolving workplace.
Her teaching combines research-backed insights with practical tools, relatable examples, and strategies learners can put to use immediately. Whether you're a new manager, an experienced leader, or simply looking to become a stronger communicator and colleague, Deb's courses are designed to help you build skills you can use in real conversations, real meetings, and real workplace situations.
More courses by Deborah Grayson Riegel
Smart Tips: Communicate Clearly & Confidently at Work (2026)
4.5 (38,486 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 3.2h
$199.99
10 Ways to Be a Great Team Player in Challenging Times (2025)
4.5 (4,907 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 1.3h
$199.99
The Manager's Guide to Driving High Performance (2025)
4.5 (3,466 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 1.3h
$199.99
Get Amazing Results from Your Conversations at Work (2025)
4.5 (3,039 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 2.1h
$199.99
More Personal Development courses
10X SKILL UP Fast: Cut Your Learning Time in Half PLAYBOOK (2026)
5.0 (795 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 7.2h
$59.99
Advanced Hand Mudras Course - Energy Healing Hand Positions (2026)
5.0 (153 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 1.6h
$74.99
Modern Parenting: How to Raise Wonderful Kids (2026)
5.0 (111 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 7.2h
$39.99
Receive Sacred Andean Codes, Your Munay Ki Wisdom Initiation (2026)
4.9 (4,897 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 8.2h
$19.99
Energy Healing Hand Positions Mudra Course Certification (2026)
4.9 (1,508 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 1h
$14.99
Reviews
By Hitokokomiya on 8/23/2026
まだコースの前半部分の一部しか受講出来ていないため、内容についての評価は出来ないですが。ずっとポジティブのマインドで居続けられるかどうかというのは、結局は、物事の見方や考え方によるものだと思います。ただその見方を変えることが難しい人も中にはいると思いながら、講座を受講しております。ただ、ポジティブに関して、2種類(Helthy Positivity vs Toxic Positivity)あること、この講座を通して発見できたのは良かったと思います。
By Vânia Cristina dos Santos on 8/15/2026
The facilitator demonstrates knowledge and first-hand experience, presenting good arguments in a simple, direct, and accessible way. The language makes the content easy to understand and keeps the course flowing well, making the idea of transforming negative experiences into more positive perspectives clear and approachable.
By Pine Ielemia on 6/4/2026
This course has helped me in identifying positive and negative/ toxic practices that people do in this life including myself, as sometimes you might not realized it but can hurt someone's feelings and vice versa. I'm very glad that I joined in this course.
By Sarah Windisch on 5/15/2026
this course has a lot of valuable information for this subject, although some of it we may think we know, we may not put into our daily lives the way we should. This offers tools to help, especially with self talk which has always been a struggle for me and I am more aware of it lately so this is well timed. I recommend this course
By MN J on 9/30/2025
Deborah is so engaging when leading the discussion, which really helps to keep the momentum going. Through this course, I learned about toxic positivity and how it differs from genuine, healthy positivity. What stood out to me is that toxic positivity can sometimes disguise itself as healthy encouragement, making it harder to recognize. This insight gave me a deeper understanding of how important it is to be mindful and authentic when supporting others.
By Anonymized User on 10/23/2024
I really enjoyed this course and all of the really valuable tips and examples that it highlighted. There are a number of things that I can do right away, like helping others and gratitude, which will help move the needle from negative me to positive me!
By Christa Pretorius on 9/4/2024
Absolutely!!!!! During this course we had a burglary at our home which were very traumatic - lots were stolen - big mess in the house. But this course helped me through, looking for the positive, showing gratitude, believe there are still good people out there, planning ahead positively and so much more - SO THANK YOU SO SO MUCH☺☺☺
By Julie Staudenmier on 11/28/2023
As much as I value living with an attitude of gratitude, and with years of focusing on expressing this value, Deborah offered me many additional tools and insights. I especially valued the section on toxic positivity, and how I can do more to avoid being "that person" who annoys others with relentless positivity. THANK YOU!!!
By Anonymized User on 9/1/2023
I've always been a positive person naturally. but I need guidance on how to teach this way of being to people in my life (both professionally and at home) how to get this mindset when they are people who are naturally negative. This course helped a lot with this goal!
By Allen Reeves on 5/12/2023
Great Course, lots of good content and great Ideas. My only challenge for this course is that there were no transcripts for the lessons or closed captioning. as a person with hearing loss, transcripts and closed captioning are an invaluable addition to learning.
Quality Score
No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.
Overall Score : 92 / 100












