In a previous blog I mentioned retirement and transitions, and life holds, and requires plenty of those, for some they come harder than others depending on many variables in life and experience. Society has measures and labels for the steps we make in life going through them. The truth is we do not complete all of them perfectly, we are human and not robots, also the emotional side of life can trip us up, we may have to deal with loss, at many levels, and in today’s world we are under great pressure being still without stable institutions, we are not being ‘held’ and are paying through the nose for everything.
This week I was talking to a young electrical engineer while he replaced my smoke alarms who told me he had four children with Autism, and he and his wife had a terrible struggle during the pandemic because of these children’s needs, but now, he said it seemed like a dream. It seems to me that many of us are in a dream like state a lot of the time as a result of what I previously referred to as coming out of ‘a cave’ The pandemic experience was so horrific many people just cast it aside and have not ,either wanted to, or been able to process it’s affects.
Christmas brings a message of hope to all of us a message of joy and ‘new beginnings but that is not the experience of everyone. It is hard to feel joy and hope in the face of loss and darkness. The days before Christmas are often dark and memories and anniversaries come to mind bringing sadness and even depression
The aforementioned dreamlike state is associated with recovery and protection from traumatic affects, and in coming out of it we need to structure our days and lives to balance our times when we chill out and when we respond positively to what is out there. It’s a two way street, face the challenge, and then take some time out.
The true message of Christmas offers hope and Joy but it may not be possible for those caught in sadness and loneliness to receive it at the moment they need to process loss and be comforted by others.
Sometimes it seems to me that when we review our memories of earlier Christmases the nostalgia is useful and comforting to us.
I HOPE YOU CAN HOPE AND BE JOYFUL!
aoibheann thoughtful reflections 