Sonder: Youth Mental Health Stories of Struggle & Strength | Page 37

Spirit Animals and A Really Good Movie
By Maddie Adams
In times of pain or suffering, all people and cultures have a
different way of coping. Some turn to a spiritual guide, others
to a literary place far away or a comforting food or activity.
Although to me, I have always struggled with finding the thing
that got me through the bouts of anxiety. As a teenager, I’ve
spent so much time suffering in silence through mental illness.
I’ve been through sadness that would engulf me, and anxiety
so bad that I wouldn’t sleep for days on end. It wasn’t until I
discovered the concept of a spirit animal and a really good
movie that I finally found the way I wanted to cope.
My (now) all time favorite movie is “We Bought A Zoo”. There is
a beautiful scene in that movie, one of a bear on a hillside. He
is grunting and galloping around. You can see his breath and
his long brown fur. To me, it is the complete embodiment of
happiness in a creature. I will always be partial to that bear and
his happiness.
Through my treatment for mental illness I’ve discovered a lot
of things about myself and the brain. One of the things I have
discovered is my way to cope.
He is a bear. His name is Baxter. He is very large. He is also very
scary. He really likes avocados and tacos, also molten lava cake
(obviously). He loves the snow in the winter, and when it’s hot
in the summer his favorite thing to do is lie in the kiddie pool.
He will only sleep if it’s on my bed, and his job in my world is to
protect me from the emotions that try to hurt me.
When I feel a panic attack approaching, I can simply talk to
Baxter. He knows. He will growl at the emotions until they
have steadied, or he will keep the attack from being as bad as it
could be. When I wake up from a nightmare he is there to bring
me back to Earth and remind me that it was only a dream.
Anxiety  35