Do you know the toast theory? This concept from TikTok consists of accepting that everyday hassles arise for good reasons and help avoid more serious disasters. According to its followers, this theory helps alleviate stress and anxiety.
The “toast” theory, a vague philosophy?
The burnt toast theory takes its name from a daily life situation already experienced by millions of people: a slice of bread that comes out charred from the toaster. This little hassle at breakfast time is nevertheless likely to delay you leaving for work or school and therefore cause stress.
But according to the toast theory, this time wasted re-toasting a piece of toast is in fact the universe’s backdoor way of preventing another incident, which could be much more serious. Basically, even bad things happen for good reasons.
A concept that ignites TikTok
This way of seeing the glass half full started from a video published this summer on TikTok by an Internet user named offthe__grid. Ingrid explains that she adopted this theory to calm her anxiety. In her video viewed nearly 100,000 times, the young woman declares: “It really helped me accept things that are out of my control“. “Embracing (this theory) and thinking about it seriously when I’m upset about something beyond my control has really allowed me to ground myself and have a little more peace in my life. Of course, you won’t know exactly what the burnt toast saved you from, but that’s beside the point. The goal is to allow you to accept the things in life that are completely beyond your control, to bring you more peace and to ground you in reality“.
@offthe__grid Monday morning thoughts… shoutout to the internet for sharing this wisdom so passing it along 💖❤️🩹 #therapytiktok #advice #anxiousattachment #fyp ♬ original sound – Ingrid
Good in his body, good in his head!
“Anchor points in the storms of life”
The toast theory is actually a psychological mechanism that we already adopt instinctively: finding meaning in life, even in the worst times. “Our human instinct is to seek meaning by transforming chaos into cohesion”, explains psychologist Cameron Williams in Refinery29. “Our resilience and strengths as human beings allow us to take advantage of our unique circumstances and put them to our advantage“. In short, even if we designate the universe as the master of our destiny, we are in reality the only ones responsible for the events that happen to us.
However, the expert believes that theories like burnt toast are “anchor points in the storms of life” and could be an effective solution to stay strong when our lives are beyond our control.
