In self-pitying Britain, the greatest heresy is to say: Cheer up!
New research carried out by medics has revealed that positive thinking can alleviate arthritis symptoms. How great is that? Hang on, what are you saying at the back of the room? Ah, you’re not convinced. Even though positivity has also been linked to weight loss, better mental health and helping patients cope with cancer, you’ve diagnosed it as a load of New Age cobblers.
How dare anyone, especially a team of medical experts, led by an internationally renowned award-winning professor of musculoskeletal medicine, try to bully you into looking on the bright side! After all, this is Britain, not the Truman Show.
Despite Boris the Irrepressible’s best efforts at boosterism, Blighty remains a nation of gloomsters and doomsters, forever harking back to the good old days, which arguably weren’t that good, what with the raging inflation, strikes and winters of discontent.
Yet the one thing we could rely on back in the day were cheeky builders. They would cry “Cheer up, love!” from the rooftops, a choir of celestial contractors urging us to be our best selves. I’m not sure there’s any peerreviewed evidence that pedestrians ever complied, but at the very least it was a reminder not to trip over our long faces. And I can personally attest that yelling back generates quite the dopamine buzz.
We live in a changed world, however, where it is now considered emotionally coercive to tell anyone to lighten up, buck up or call time on the self-indulgent pity party. Instead of raising each other up with sarky humour (as is the British way), we are expected to defeat our demons solo. A striking feature of our age is the monetisation of low mood. Business is brisk for mindfulness courses, gratitude journals and wellness retreats. You can buy “You Got This” slogan
T-shirts and even “optimistic” scented candles, if you think burning money would make you feel less glum.
Social media, which is built on narcissism, positively promotes the right to feel bleak, regardless of how selfdefeating pessimism can be. The current mantra beloved of influencers and Love Islanders alike is “you do you”. Online, such language has the superficial ring of affirmation, but in truth it is an isolationist abdication of responsibility towards those in urgent need of a pep talk.
What really does help Eeyores isn’t the kindness of strangers in cyberspace but an injection of Tiggerishness from friends in real life. People need people, not pamphlets. In the aforementioned medical trial, a third of participants suffering from rheumatic disease, including arthritis, were prescribed exercise; another third received cognitive behavioural therapy that targets unhelpful thoughts, and the final tranche had the “usual” care which (shamefully) was an explanatory leaflet.
Those given talking therapy saw the greatest improvements in sleeping patterns, with these benefits continuing for six months. They also reported having improved mental health and quality of life compared with those who received the “usual” treatment. In short, optimism makes everything better: we stress less, we ache less, we eat less.
But to experience these less we need to embrace some other things more. More positivity, more laughter, more salt-of-the-earth builders shouting “Cheer up, it might never happen!” Even if it has happened. In point of fact, especially if it has.