i need eeyore (and also the thousand acre woods)

what a depressed cartoon donkey teaches me about friends and life

in life, we’re always told to be happy. to be perfect. in fact, even disneyland’s motto is “the happiest place on earth.” every single day, we’re told that the only prevalent emotion is happiness. that every other emotion is worthless.

and sometimes, the people around us demand happiness. think of customer service, where the cashier always has to smile or wave or imitate chatgpt. think of a waiter, who always has to be polite and cheery no matter what. think of a business presentation, where being grumpy and irritable as someone who is easily replaceable can get you fired.

society demands we be happy. our friends, or friend groups, used to be a safe haven, where we could escape from society. but in a world with toxic money-moochers and instagramers-who-only-use-you-to-get-views, it gets harder and harder to find genuine friends.

as someone who is struggling with building genuine friendships, i can only turn back to my favorite source of wisdom in this situation: the one and only eeyore.

yes. my role model is a depressed donkey who may or may not be not even an actual donkey, or exist in real life. add insult to injury, his cartoon has been mainly forgotten by today’s youth.

and not to worry, my friends, you are not receiving advice from a clinically insane person.

eeyore teaches us to find friends that love all of us. the depressed side of us, the hateful side of us, the only-kind-of-funny side of us, the joyful side of us, the guilty side of us.

story wellness says that eeyore might symbolize depression because of his “gloomy outlook and slow saunter.” eeyore has “a tendency to expect the worst” and displays “low energy.” He even drops hints at “feeling undervalued and overlooked.”

and he is constantly like this. this is eeyore’s character. this isn’t a phase, or a rough patch. (though, one could argue that eeyore is currently going through a rough patch.) this is not eeyore’s alter ego, this is the real eeyore.

and i know that if i were to act like that, i would lose at least half of my friends.

my friends expect joy and positivity from me. some would be fine with me moping around for a day or two, some could stand even a week or three. but slowly, they would get extremely annoyed with me. they would hate my attitude and think i was a burden.

and after watching eeyore and his friends, i think i need to let those friends go.

you see, eeyore is constantly sad and depressed. he’s just always like this. he doesn’t really lighten up, or stay happy. he doesn’t even have a sad backstory, he’s just sad.

but his friends still love him.

they never left him out on adventures.

they didn’t expect him to be happy and joyous and sing kumbaya every single day to fit in with them.

they never got mad at him because of his pessimistic attitude, constant sadness or negative opinion.

to them, eeyore didn’t need to fit in. he didn’t need to be fake, or something he wasn’t. eeyore was treated with love and care, and respected for who he was. he was treated, not with kid gloves or distain, but with decency and kindness for being his depressed self.

and that is exactly what every single friend group should be doing.

every single person should be loved and treated with respect, whether or not they are depressed or don’t match your vibe. they should be supported, loved, and cared about. expectations should not be pushed on them, and in return they will not push expectations on you.

be like eeyore. find friends that support and love you for who you are.

and if they don’t…

then can they be called true friends?

(credits to: the thousand acre woods, return to the thousand acre woods, winnie the pooh book and television series, any products affiliated with winnie the pooh book and/or television series, and story wellness for photos, evidence, analysis, inspiration, and a good cry.)