Give thanks…

Remember Pollyanna? I was thrilled to find a copy of both Pollyanna and Pollyanna Grows Up on Project Gutenberg a couple of years ago.  At the time, I wasn’t aware that there was a sequel, so I had a lovely day reading both.  (They’re quick reads.)

Pollyanna goes through life playing the “Glad Game” and teaching it to others, with positive results.  The books have received a bad rap over the years for being “simplistic” and “syrupy” and I’m not about to defend either charge.  What I do want to do is talk a bit about the Glad Game.  The game focuses on “just being glad” – finding something good in every situation.  She says that it’s particularly fun when it’s difficult to find something to be glad about, and learns that it’s hardest of all when you’re in the unpleasant situation.  Isn’t that the truth, though?  It’s often easy for us to comfort someone else and not find the words to speak to ourselves in tough times.  How many times have we said to others “Chin up!  It’ll get better!” or words to that effect?  There is a real test in being able to talk ourselves out of a slump.

Just to be crystalline, I’m not referring to someone in a clinical depression. 

People have asked me how I stay positive with the diagnosis that I got.  According to my journal, I am not always sunny and cheerful – like everyone else, I have dark days when it seems that the world is overwhelming.  Part of my approach was to stay so busy that I had no time to think, but then I ran out of things to do, and I had days with nothing to do but think.  And on those days, I found myself saying, “Dear Lord, thank you for this.”  (Yes, seriously.)  I was not thankful for the pain, the tests or the long hours lying still.  I was thankful for the people around me – Don, who has been my rock; my parents; my siblings (especially my eldest and youngest sisters) and the friends who called, visited and shared their stories.  I was thankful for the medical team, for my health care plan, for being in a country where health care is covered and for my job.

I will be honest.  Some days, it’s nigh impossible to find something to be glad about.  Instead of forcing it, those days I look back on things that I’ve journalled or reread a card or a book (my sister Lori has provided me a couple of inspirational books that are treasured.)  And my standard item of thanks:  I am alive and I have a little dog.  Thank G- for that!