tvshows

Early January, I posted anonymously on Reddit that I was so overwhelmed with my depression that I could no longer find joy in my usual activities. One month later, my mood has experienced a complete 180. The thing that got me from one point to the other was Bear in the Big Blue House.

I started off 2023 feeling totally defeated. My efforts to find a new job were going nowhere, money was hard to hold on to, and the guy I was dating called things off to focus on a pressing personal issue. I was absolutely miserable.

I tried passing the time with the one thing that I usually looked forward to: watching TV. Unfortunately, Wednesday, Lucifer, and all my other favourite characters were no longer comforting me the way they usually did.

I spent a lot of days trying to do work, desperately job hunting, and quietly sobbing in my room. I was in a lot of pain and desperate to find something that could help me move past it.

Then I remembered some TikToks I’d seen of a familiar Bear wishing everyone a Merry Christmas alongside his human counterpart, Noel MacNeal. Didn’t they announce Bear in the Big Blue House was added to Disney Plus back in October?

Inner child healing was a concept I was very familiar with, but hadn’t actually explored. And I’m definitely not the first adult to admit to watching a kid’s show for nostalgia and comfort. So my 28 year-old self opened Disney Plus and found the show trending on the home screen.

I binged watched the whole show in less than a month. I watched an episode at dinner, an episode to fall asleep, and even episodes during the day when my depression and anxiety were at their peak. I found so much comfort in these familiar characters, the soft voices, the fun songs, Bear sniffing the camera. It felt like the reunion I didn’t know I needed.

I started to feel better a little each day, and life started to get better too. I found a new job I’m really excited about, and my family is helping me get back on track in life.

I can’t say for sure that Bear is 100% the reason my life improved in a month’s time, but I’m sure glad I had him to comfort me when things started to feel too hard. I don’t think we should take the things that gave us joy as kids for granted.

Have you ever relied on a blast from the past to get you through a difficult time? “What do you think?”

#innerchild #tvshows #Depression #Selfcare

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