Five Reasons to Love Winnie the Pooh

1. Pooh and his friends are relatable. I know that there is a rumor going around that each Hundred Acre Wood character represents a different mental illness (ex. Pooh= obesity, Piglet= anxiety, Eyore= depression, Tigger= ADHD, Rabbit= OCD, Christopher Robin = schizophrenia). As someone who takes mental illness very seriously, I find this comparison slightly distasteful. I believe it simplifies mental illness and that is something our society does not need right now. That being said, who hasn’t felt like Eyore once in a while? Or been a little bouncy after breakfast? Everyone empathizes with these characters. 

2. Winnie the Pooh rocks that red crop top.

3. It is so innocent. There is nothing perverted or dirty in any of those pages. And don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate off color humor as much as the next person. But its nice to have one place where you can revisit your childhood, where you can stay in a place of innocence, where people are kind to one another, and dedicated to building each other up. It is the pureness of Winnie the Pooh that makes me come back again and again.

4. The books are hilarious. The Winnie the Pooh books may have been written for kids but they have humor adults can appreciate (without it being “adult” humor). A..A. Milne (the author of the Winnie the Pooh books) was a very clever man. He designed the books so everyone could smile while reading them. 

5. Winnie the Pooh makes me feel safe. There are two series of books that I call comfort books (one being the Winnie the Pooh books, the other being the Harry Potter books). Even when I was younger, before I was officially diagnosed with my disorders, I knew that these were books I could curl up with and feel better. Less alone. Less scared. Winnie the Pooh certainly has some sort of magic about it. They are the closest books to my heart.