How Winnie The Pooh Changed My Life

How Winnie The Pooh Changed My Life

I’ve been watching a lot of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh lately and there some pretty good “life lessons” within the story. You know, like when Piglet gives up his beloved family home to Owl because he doesn’t want to hurt Eeyore’s feelings. Or when Rabbit invites Pooh in for lunch, even though he knows Pooh will eat all his honey. And I realized that the more I watched Winnie the Pooh, the more I started to find people in my life who represented those characters. So, who was I? I found myself relating to a lot of them, but when it really came down to it, I couldn’t really pinpoint just one…

and then it hit me…Am I Eeyore?

Some people might think I’m crazy for thinking this, but maybe it was true? I started thinking back about some recent conversations I’d had with people and most of them were rants or complaints.

O.M.G! Maybe I AM Eeoyre?!!

I guess I did have a tendency to be a realist and being positive and upbeat wasn’t as much of a priority as it should have been. Or maybe I wasn’t considering that simply expressing my opinion could really impact someone’s day in a negative way. I’ve always been pretty shy, so I think part of a way to “break the ice” has always been for me to just rant, bitch, or say something sarcastic to get the conversation going (the awkward silence KILLS me!). Inside, I feel like I’m very thoughtful and kind, but was I doing a good job at reflecting this to others? It didn’t appear so…

At that moment (a couple months ago), I made the decision to start being more positive! I vowed that I would no longer be the Eeyore character in life! It took me about a week or two to really “adjust” and I’d catch myself being negative often, but now, I’m in a much better “place” than I was before and I’m much happier!! Here’s what I did:

  1. I Stopped Being Sarcastic
    Being sarcastic is basically saying something rude or negative, but in a funny way. It’s almost never a positive.
  2. I Pause Before I Speak
    If it’s not positive, I don’t say it…“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.
  3. I Remind Myself That Most of My Struggles Are Not-So-Bad
    Sometimes I used to feel like the world is crashing down on me, and then I’d realize that it was only something as small as my dog barking at the doorbell while my son was napping. When I started looking at life with a bigger lens, I stated to see that most things weren’t-so-bad at all. So now, I ask myself, “Is it going to be something I am still thinking about in a month, or even a year?” If the answer is no, it’s probably not that bad.
  4. I Find Ways to Recharge Myself
    I realized that many of the times I’d want to snap at someone or start an argument had nothing to do with the person on the other end of the conversation and EVERYTHING to do with me (it’s not you, it’s me…seriously!). I realized that I need to take time to de-stress and recharge in a way that works for me so I wasn’t always on edge!
  5. I Measure Life in Shorter Increments of Time
    I found that if I measured life in smaller intervals, it allowed me to recover and bounce back quicker and easier. I’d much rather say I had a bad morning, than an entire bad day…right?

 

Honestly, once I started down the path of positivity, it has really been quite easy to make the change! Every now and then I catch myself, but it’s easy to find my way back on track.

Everyone has to bitch and rant every once in a while, that’s part of “recharging”, but if you think it’s something you do on a regular basis…sit back and reevaluate? Ask yourself, “Am I Eeyore?”. If you are, it’s time for a change my friend, because I hate to say it…but Eeyore is an ass! :)

FavoriteLoadingAdd to favorites

Website: www.WIRLProject.com

 
Profile photo of Sara Brennan
Sara Brennan is the founder of WIRL Project and was also recently named as one of the Top 30 Under 30 Future Business Leaders of Charlotte, NC. In her spare time she loves to hang out with her Australian husband, Mitch, her toddler son, Mason, and her two dogs, Koby and Skeeter. She shares much of her life and thoughts in her writing and enjoying being around like-minded individuals who are authentic. Interested in contacting Sara about WIRL Project or other endeavors? Join the WIRL Project community or use the Contact form on the website to get in touch with her.

1 Comment

  1. Profile photo of Ashley

    Hahaha! This is awesome! I don’t watch enough Winnie The Pooh to know which character I’d be, maybe I should start!!

    Reply Report comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>