Originally Published at Life In 10 Minutes

I watched Inside Out… again. It’s this cool Disney movie where you see the inner emotional working of a young girl who is dealing with a cross country move. Basically, she has little cartoon people in her head who experience, assist with, analyze, and categorize her emotions. After watching it for the uptenth time, I couldn’t help but wonder what the little people in my head were doing to help me cope with life’s craziness. Check out a snippet of that scene below!

 Joy: Paula, just write something. Writing has always made you happy. And then, go outside. A nature walk gives you so much peace and clarity. It’ll do you some good.

Disgust: Ugh no! Bugs are in nature. 

Fear: And what if we walk into a spider web? We hate spiders.

Disgust: Plus, we’d have to put on a bra to go outside. I’m never wearing a bra again.

Sadness: I hate putting on bras.

Joy: Come on guys! What Paula needs is a good pick me up. Maybe a movie?

Anger: How many fucking movies are we gonna watch? There’s nothing new unless you pay twenty bucks for it!

Sadness: We could watch another movie about a deadly disease taking over the earth. Netflix has plenty of those.

Fear: A disease that we’re gonna get and die from.

Sadness: Unless the diabetes kills us first.

Joy: Okay well… what about painting? Paula loves to paint and she hasn’t done it …

Sadness: Since her dad died….

Anger: Since the candle she lit for dad melted on the carpet

Fear: Since the candle was mysteriously blown out by dead dad ghost

Disgust: Since the last picture she painted looked like shit. Can’t we just listen to a few hours of Paramore and be all emo about it?

Joy: We’ve got to be more positive folks. Let’s look into her memory bank and find something fun to cheer her up. Aha! Here’s a good one: The day she  … uh… that time she … hmmm, I know there’s a good one around here somewhere.

Anger: I hid the good stuff, Joy! I don’t wanna think about that!

Sadness: What about the day she ate the brownie?

Anger, Joy, Disgust: NO! 

Fear: We don’t talk about that, Sadness. 

Sadness: I thought it was a nice trip.

Joy: Paula is 32 now. She had a great birthday. Our family and friends were so nice.. What is she so down about? Sadness, do you know?

Sadness: I think it has something to do with her hair. She shouldn’t have taken her locs out. Now she has split ends and no edges.

Joy: Oh but her hair wasn’t healthy. She’s starting over and I love the afro!

Fear: Maybe it has something to do with oh.. Idk… impending death from COVID 19! Hello, underlying health conditions. Hello, she’s afraid of dying.

Joy: But she takes her meds everyday and drinks water. Plus, she has a really cute mask to wear. She’s not gonna die.

Disgust: She’s upset about the wedding. It was supposed to be today. Instead she’s watching the Beyonce documentary yet again trying to wonder what it’s like to not be a pathetic loser.

Joy: She’s not a loser! Disgust, you’re sounding more and more like Petty everyday. I thought we got rid of her.

Disgust: She’s my fucking best friend, okay!

Anger: You guys just don’t get it. She’s angry about all of it. She’s scared and disgusted and she’s definitely sad. Stop trying to fix it all, Joy. Just let her feel it for a little while.

Joy: Just let her feel it, huh? That’s hard. I want her to be happy. Not after all of this is over but happy right now. 

Anger: You can’t control everything, Joy!

Joy: Okay okay! I’ll try it your way. I’ll let her feel it but only for today. Tomorrow, she’s gonna put on something other than a mumu and paint something and she’s gonna like it. Or I’ll be forced to bring out the big guns!

Disgust: Oh gosh no, please don’t!  

Joy: Sadness, que up the slideshow. 

Sadness: Puppies and giggling babies. on deck!

By Paula Gillison

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