Some positivity despite the panic

Come talk about positive things with me

If you’re anything like me, seeing everything going around about the coronavirus is stressful. Even if you’re not stressed for your own safety, you’re worried about the safety of others, or – and I cannot stress this enough – you get secondhand stressed seeing the state of affairs in the rest of the world.

Eventually, the toilet paper-less grocery stores and gloomy, empty university halls just get to you. The panic that everyone else has been feeling slowly begins to set in. This is real. This is happening.

Everywhere you look are news stories, radio interviews, new information, further cancellations, everything. It all, eventually, begins to dog-pile on the fellow easily-anxious like me.

Because of this, I want a break. I want to see something happy on social media, on my timeline, somewhere. So, for the time being, I’d like to talk about some positive things going on in the world to, for the next few minutes, offset a bit of the worldwide panic.

There are a few news sources I use to solely look up positive, heart-warming news stories during times of woe. And, seeing as the entire planet is in a state of woe, let’s share some stories that’ll make you go “wow, maybe the world isn’t crumbling as we know it after all.”

Let’s start off soft with cute animal facts. Did you know that shaved guinea pigs look like baby hippos? And that mice and rats are ticklish? That’s shit’s precious.

If a cat headbutts you, it doesn’t mean they’re gearing up for brawl, but it means that they trust you. Same with if a dog rolls over when you arrive back home.

Also, a cluster of cats is called a kindle. That was a fact I didn’t know prior today but is very, very important. I wonder if Amazon is aware of this thrilling new marketing tactic.

A group of pugs is called a grumble, a group of hedgehogs is called a prickle, ominously a group of lemurs is called a conspiracy (I don’t want to know what they’re plotting) and, best of all, a flock of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

Tropes in life that always make me smile: when dad doesn’t want a pet but falls in love with it once the family adopts one, the corny “enemies to lovers” cliché (bonus points if the two of them are trapped in some sort of location together and forced to bond), the “polar opposites falling in love” cliché. Can you tell I’m a fan of clichés? My English profs would be so disappointed in me.

Speaking of favourite clichés, here’s a list of corny (and, arguably, bad) original Disney Channel movies available on Disney+ while everyone is quarantined. These open up a nostalgic pit in my soul every time I even see them being recommended to me: Read It And Weep, Gotta Kick It Up, Cadet Kelly (clarification needed: this ain’t a bad one, it’s just a classic) and Minutemen.

Did you know that an American teacher has been trying to teach her third grade class how to email so that they can work from home for all their classes? Let’s just say her students seem to think of it as “glorified texting” and have been using it to their full advantage, sending her clusters of emojis and “hi I miss you” messages a few times a day.

There was also a woman in England who created a postcard campaign to help her at-risk neighbours get groceries during the quarantine period. She has created a postcard template that users may print off, fill out with their contact information, and distribute to their neighbours, listing everything they are able to help with while others are self-isolating.

Also, I highly suggest Googling the parrot that leads a yoga session. I’m constantly amazed and astounded by the current state of the world.

Now that I’m nearing the end here, I feel as though writing this has been genuinely therapeutic for me. Focusing on the positives of the world in a time of chaos feels centring a meditative, almost. I think when the world is drowned in panic and worry (all justified, might I add) it’s nice to take a breather and have a moment of peace; a moment to realize the world isn’t a complete and total mess, at least not yet.

Because the world deserves a little more love and laughter right now, celebrate the things that make you happy and share them with the people you love. They might need it more than you know.