In order to keep up with current events, I look at three newspaper apps every morning, listen to one news app, and read one newsletter. Each afternoon, I read two newsletters, one of which is Dave Pell’s Next Draft.
Pell published a book last year, Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year that Wouldn’t End. I wasn’t sure I could enjoy a book about 2020 (and early 2021), the year we all hope will never repeat itself. Yet, Pell’s was one of my favorite books of 2021.
He explains the title before the start of the book: “In July of 2020, the Fiji-Q Highland amusement park outside of Tokyo reopened under tight pandemic rules: riders of the park’s famed Fujiyama Roller Coaster were required to wear face masks and were advised not to scream to avoid unnecessary germ spread. When park attendees complained that being told not to scream on such a scary ride was an impossible demand, the amusement park released a video of two park executives in suits, and without a hair out of place, who sat completely stone-faced through the entire roller coaster ride. The video, which went viral, ended with the message: Please Scream Inside Your Heart.”
I was telling a friend this story and she said, of the phrase please scream inside your heart, “I like that idea. It’s a good suggestion for me to follow when I’m angry.”
I like the point she was making. As I have written before, including in this post earlier this year, anger is not good for one’s health. I have sometimes felt letting it out would make me feel better, but it never has. On the other hand, letting it go has always allowed the feeling to pass, a much better outcome for sure!
I hope you’ll try to scream inside your heart rather than screaming at others.
Be well,
David