I love Tigger. You know, the bouncy tiger character from A.A. Milne’s ‘Winnie the Pooh’. I always thought he was pretty cool but when I was really depressed, Tigger became my role model. Now I know it’s a little sad having a fictitious character as your role model but let me explain. When I was depressed, Tigger was everything I was not, and reminded of who I used to be. So I started collecting Tigger memorabilia and putting it around the house as a reminder of who I used to be. My favourite Tigger I own is the bouncing tigger. He bounces across the floor singing his whacky song not letting anything get in the way of his bouncing. You can pick him up and move him, but he continues to bounce. Even if you just sit and watch him he continues to ask you to join him “Let’s Bounce”.

My niece loves Piglet. She has two piglet toys - ’stay at home’ piglet and ‘travelling’ piglet. When she has piglet with her she feels safe and if you want her to sleep, piglet needs to be by her side. She loves piglet so much that pink is her favourite colour, and pigs are her favourite animals. Her favourite flavour is strawberry. When I was depressed I was a bit more like piglet. Timid and nervous, feeling small and unnoticed. I felt I was too weak to be able to offer anything to anyone. Piglet does have some really strong points though. He is loyal and trustworthy. He is thoughtful and generous. There’s a lot to be said for being a Piglet.

Eeyore on the other hand I find a little difficult to handle. We all have Eeyores in our life, people who are constantly gloomy. People who when you ask how they are, spend the next five minutes telling you how terrible their life is. It’s very easy to be an Eeyore. To focus on the negatives in life and always expect the worst. I try really hard not to be an Eeyore. It’s important to be able to talk to people about how you’re feeling and be honest about your struggles, but this doesn’t have to be the focus of every conversation. There is a difference between sharing a bit of what’s going on for you and being so self absorbed you are unable to talk about anything except yourself. (This can also happen when things are going really well and you just want to tell people how great everything is). When I am down I try to take the time to ask other people how they are going or if I don’t feel up to that I surround myself with positive people and let them do the talking. I find this is much more helpful than spending all my time talking about how bad things are for me.

Pooh - well aside from his name (who would have thought he could become a Disney star with such an unfortunate name) is very consistent. He is slow and steady with a major weakness for honey. As long as he has honey he is pretty much content. At times I can be like that with chocolate. However, as Pooh found out, too much of a good thing can have disastrous consequences (http://www.winnie-the-pooh.ru/stories/english/hole/ or read the book “Winnie-the-Pooh”). And then he has to go on a crash diet. Thankfully for Pooh he had Christopher Robin who came around to read to him and care for him while he went through the diet-from-hell. We all need a friend like Christopher Robin.

At times I’ve been a mix of Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh but when I’m doing well I’m really Tigger. Let’s Bounce!