Eeyore, Pollyanna, and the Glad Game

My sister called me Eeyore when I was younger—OK she still calls me Eeyore occasionally. I don't feel like a gloomy donkey, but maybe I can be a bit blue at times. (And I did get bounced by a certain Tigger sister, very frequently as a child). Maybe I can focus on everything that goes wrong, or could go wrong. Maybe I don't often jump in with both feet but test it first with a toe. Maybe I'm too logical, practical, and frugal. Maybe I don't have a wide circle of friends. Whatever.

Truthfully, I wish I could be more like Pollyanna.

Some persistently perky people just make you want to punch them, but not Pollyanna. She brightens everyone she meets, eventually. You know the story by Eleanor Porter, made famous by Disney and actress Hayley Mills. (And if you are thinking, Yeah I DO want to punch her! just don't forget to attend your anger management class this week).

Pollyanna had a rough life but didn't go around Woe is me. She practiced the Glad Game. Essentially she tried to find the positive in everything, even when life was crummy. And everyone fell in love with her. She put others before herself and did so cheerfully.

Dictionary.reference.com has the word Pollyanna as a noun: "an excessively or blindly optimistic person." Blind optimism could get a person in trouble. And Pollyanna did crack a little. She yelled at Mrs. Snow and she almost lost all her gladness when she got hurt—just proof that she was human. But she recovered her sense of joy because so many people believed in her and what she stood for and they were there to build her up again.

Sigh, Pollyanna I am not, but I hope I've got many of those good traits. Rather than sit around stewing over who I won't be I'll try to focus on what I can give. And I'll spend some time looking for my tail; it's missing again.