Walking in recovery from illness our major events like the pandemic, can go well and almost naturally, but it is good to remember that there is another side, a side which one might be justified in referring to as ‘a drag’.
It is important to see this as normal in the circumstances, and to remember that few human beings can deal with continuing and inciduous traumatic stress and always feel on top of things, and added to this there are our ordinary life circumstances which require management.
It seems to me that we are in ‘a drag’ period now, and for some time since government and indeed ourselves have decided to tone down the pandemic, and accordingly it is viewed as over, or at the very least denied its real significance. The drag is present in so many ways, the length of time we have been struggling with COVID, and the additional work this gives us, in daily living, and travelling.
Recently I decided to visit my son who I had not seen for three years, and although this was only a domestic flight my family and friends gave me great support, even to the extent of getting me special masks which they had found useful. On the outward journey I noticed just one of the staff was wearing a mask, I appeared to be the only other person on board that considered this necessary. It makes me wonder, at what point did we loose our ability to reason concerning this health and safety issue, given that infections have always been fairly prevalent on aeroplanes, and it is common knowledge that the circulating air is not, to the best of my current knowledge purified, what are we doing?
The struggle to live breathe and be as ‘normal’ as possible has gone on for so long that we seem to have thrown all caution to the winds and just allowed ourselves to be carried along with the herd, could it be that we simply don’t have the energy any more to think things through. we are in ‘a drag’ there is no physical fluidity in our thinking and movement, and accordingly we are so dried up and exhausted that we go ahead and stop thinking consciously about what we are doing.
I think there is a serious and largely unconsidered reason/reasons for this which is taking a major tole on our mental health. Think about it! such behaviour is not natural for human beings we are allowing ourselves the overuse of denial, and so are becoming unable to manage a concrete and balanced ‘world view.’ Unless we connect our thinking and behaviour in a reflective and healthy way we will continue to live in an unbalanced and ‘sureal’ way.
Walking, or sometimes creeping in recovery means using the balanced way we have been made, by learning to manage our breathing and safely undertake our daily tasks. In addition we need to engage our brain and mind in reflective thinking challenging ourselves to get the balance, and eventually we learn new healthy attitudes and behaviours.
KEEP WALKING, CREEPING RUNNING OR LEAPING IN RECOVERY FROM ONGOING STRESS THE THING IS KEEP IN IT!
aoibheann thoughtful reflections 