I’m convinced the second day after a surgery is the worst. The relief that the surgery is over has dissipated. The mind races with things to do and places to go. The body is unwilling to cooperate. In short, it’s a down day.

I recently read an interview with author Barbara Ehrenreich in the San Francisco Chronicle. Diagnosed with breast cancer ten years ago, she became angry at “exhortations to be positive . . . because it will make you better. It was either smile or die.”

According to the article, Ehrenreich realized that “positive thinking was more widespread than she’d imagined. It was not only touted as a force against breast cancer, along with cheerful pink ribbons and stuffed bears, it was fundamental in our self-image and national character.”

Ehrenreich has written a book called Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. It explores what Ehrenreich calls America’s happiness industry, which she believes is partly responsible for everything, writes her interviewer, from “our slide into war to the economic crisis.”

I have not met Ms. Ehrenreich, nor have I read her book. Already, I love this woman. No one is cheerful every hour of every day. It’s not natural. And I agree that constantly promoting positive thinking can be counterproductive.

For example, I worked for a time in the marketing department of a software company. From gatherings in its conference rooms to lunching in break rooms to one-on-one meetings, cheerleading for the company and its products was not only encouraged, no other outlook was tolerated. The atmosphere was not healthy. Personnel problems could not be addressed because they often were not acknowledged. The marketing department would tout new product features in company brochures while software engineers were expunging those very features because they did not work. How positive is that?

A positive attitude can go a long way toward bettering one’s health and even growing our economy. But I do agree with Ehrenreich that “relentless positive thinking is something from which we must be weaned.”