It has been a while …..

It has been a while since I have written anything on my blog. Something was wrong with my WordPress app, but all fixed now 🙂

How life has changed since I last wrote on here ! Globally we are in the midst of a Pandemic and our lives have changed drastically. I feel so fortunate to have a nice place to ‘hole’ up at home in, food to eat and a heater to warm me. Many people around the world do not have this luxury.

I am still working in mental health four days a week at a private psychiatric hospital. Regarded as essential services, I am seeing many people feeling frightened by the Covoid 19 crisis, which in turn is exacerbating their mental health issues. Even those of us with more robust mental health are experiencing higher levels of stress and anxiety than we normally would …… So important to look after ourselves as best we can and be gentle with who we are, when we feel vulnerable. Often the wider community anxiety impacting on us, as we watch TV and hear the news for example, will stir up inner anxieties that we carry and bring them more into focus. This can feel highly uncomfortable and because we don’t have our usual external activities to distract us, we may find ourselves struggling with such inner disturbances.

Perhaps this is a good time to do some therapeutic writing. Just write down in a special journal all that stirs up within you. No need to fix it or problem solve, just name your experience and articulate your feelings as best you can.

I find that when I do this, it provides some relief from the acuteness of my emotions and I don’t feel so consumed with the distress of them. Here is a poem I wrote at the beginning of the Covoid-19 outbreak to help my feelings.

A Poem for This Time

Fear holds us to ransom,

anxiety dances in our soul,

hard not to feel affected,

travel plans stopped

boarders closed

crazy panic buying

clearing supermarket shelves.

It is a strange, weird feeling

to just stay put

be uncertain about everything

that may have held us steady.

Life is hard enough

without corona virus

knocking on our doors

entering without invitation.

What to do?

not sure really, except ……

to wash my hands for twenty seconds

hand sanitise often

honour social distancing,

bring out my dusty meditation stool,

read all those books piled high

by my bed

and love my neighbour

at a distance.

Ros Lewis 21/3/20