Depressed by Covid-19? Time to Pollyanna Glad Game!
By Laura Campbell
Right now life is mind-numbingly depressing. Let’s be frank. In mindfulness, they talk about accepting when times are bad. Well now, for most of the world, things are bad. There is a life-threatening virus pandemically circulating the globe and killing people, a resulting global financial recession with most companies having massive lay-offs and hiring freezes and because of the virus we are all locked in our homes and all fun is cancelled. Life is looking mighty miserable.
To stop us all being murdered by the virus, we can’t have parties, travel, have holidays, food is rationed to stop stockpiling, there isn’t enough toilet roll, kids are cooped up at home, swimming pools and restaurants and pubs are closed, theatres and comedy shows and all live sporting events are banned and all non-basic essential shops are closed. We can’t even come more than two metres close to friends and neighbours. The news is depressing and doctors and nurses on the “front line” of the virus, are dying every day. All the things that we the western world took for granted have been taken away and suddenly seem so necessary. Instead, we all rot in our houses playing board games over the internet with friends or with flatmates or family we have become so sick of, stuck together for months in self-isolation. Depressed? Me too and I am sick of it! Well, I have a new game for you to play. It’s called the GLAD GAME.
When I was young my auntie Lizzy, herself a radiant optimist, introduced me to E.H. Porter and her book Pollyanna. This fantastic short novel is a vintage classic. It talks about a young girl Pollyanna who is sent to live with her stern Aunt Polly when her father dies. Orphaned, poor and alone and missing her home, Pollyanna has very little to feel happy about. Like the world right now, with the weak and elderly dying and countries with poor health systems suffering and doctors and nurses trying their hardest to stem this morbid pathogenic disease, she has very little to feel cheerful about. Only Pollyanna has a secret trick. Before he died, her father bestowed upon her a unique gift, the ability to find something good in everything and this gift, the Glad Game, kept her going through her hardship, just as the world must do now.
Pollyanna began her glad game with a simple mistake. The missionary that sent her clothes and toys (as she could not afford them herself), accidentally sent her crutches rather than a doll to play with. Pollyanna had no toys and felt glum at this disappointment, after the expectation of finally getting a prized toy to play with. Her father changed her interpretation of the situation. He said, “just be glad you don’t NEED the crutches.” When she later heard someone whining about hating their name, Pollyanna said: “just be glad you’re not called Hyacinth.” She says “most generally there is something about everything that you can be glad about if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”
I found the glad game when I was unwell in 2017 and in hospital and since then I have played the Glad Game every day. I have written a shortlist of everything I have to be glad about. Some days, the list is longer than others but what I have learnt is that whilst not every day can be amazing, there is something good, no matter how small, in every day. Yesterday my list went something like, 1) bran flakes for breakfast yummy, 2) in self-isolation with family and not alone, 3) not having or having family with Coronavirus, 4) not being homeless, 5) soft socks, 6) the tree I can see from my window, 7) my sister’s epic music taste, 8) not having to commute into work, 9) my favourite yellow jumper, 10) memories of last year’s holiday in France, 11) my comfy bed at night, 12) my education, 13) the taste of fresh minty toothpaste, 14) sunshine in the morning, 15) the smell of freshly washed clothes out of the washing machine, 16) time to cook creatively, 17) the daffodils in my neighbours garden. Small things make a big difference!
I have found that if I change my attitude towards a scenario and change my interpretation of it, I can change the way I feel about it. My Glad Game reminds me of how lucky I am and how much worse it could be and so in this game, I find joy and happiness in every day.
If you are currently sitting at your desk in your home and worrying about your finances, your job security (we all are), the virus and your health or the health of your loved ones or anything else that the current situation has thrown at us to make us miserable and unhappy, start Glad Gaming! Be glad you are not called Hyacinth (sorry to all the Hyacinth’s out there!)! Accept that so many of the negatives are out of your control and that all worrying about them does is make you miserable. Find, embrace and focus on the positives in your experiences. You will find that if you face the sun, the shadows fall behind you and you can stay cheerful and get through this experience.
You might even enjoy parts of it!
