Tell me something nice

I’ve been struggling a bit for the last few days. I was fine; we were only being asked to do what I love to do anyway. Then I started to get very sad. There just didn’t seem to be any good news to balance out the awfulness.

I seem to have a genetically inherited trait to care about other people and hearing other people’s sad stories always affected me deeply. Dad always used to say, “Tell me something nice,” whenever he noticed that I was getting maudlin about the state of the world. This was a long time before the gratitude journal became fashionable. Actually, Listing 5 things I’m grateful for never really works for me at this point. I have existential angst and guilt that my life is so much better than lots of other people’s, so listing my nice home, loving family, having plenty of cheese in the fridge, books to read and a dog (even if he does leave the room whenever I walk in) only makes me feel more guilty about the tough time other people are having.

There is just so much grief  and fear of death wallowing around and all of our coping strategies are being taken away. Funerals are cancelled, hugs from family you don’t live with are banned, sitting around the deathbed of a loved one as a group is forbidden. The joy and laughter that would normally come out of those moments won’t happen. Even the good things are tinged with a sadness. Love is cancelled (unless you already live together and then domestic abuse is on the rise), weddings are off, teenagers aren’t allowed to climb out of their bedroom window to meet in the woods for an elicit snog (although I think they might still be doing that), babies are being born without partners being present, grandparents have to coo over their grandchildren through a window.

So, with my Dad's suggestion ringing in my ears I thought I’d try to think of something nice.

It was a struggle but I settled on pets.

I trawled the internet for pictures and videos of animals. I saw videos of cats defying the laws of physics.
Cat defying laws of physics
I saw that the mice on the underground had lost it
Underground fisticuffs
This inspired me to revisit my favourite millipede clip
Walk this way
Finally, I fell into the dog clips.
I filled the dog with helium

Suddenly, I became disturbed all over again. People are dressing up their dogs and using them for entertainment their pets never signed up for. I was already feeling sorry for my dog, who is just exhausted by the fact that there are people in the house all the time. This means that he is on duty 24/7 and never gets a moment when he doesn’t have to protect us from unseen forces and pigeons.

Clearly, I need help. Tell me something nice.