Take it easy? No, I must work hard to make it!
Here I am on 20th December. The book chapter proof is back with the email heading 'Address the proofs by 4 January 2023'. I am grappling with another book chapter. I had messed up the references, the deadline was end November 2022. And oh the funding for the NGO came late, I should plan for activities for the beginning of January 2023. Oops, my book manuscript had been unattended for so long, I have forgotten what I need to rework. Gosh! I cannot manage to hold things together. I feel tired. Should I take it easy? If I just leave my desk for a long time, and do some time wasting, I fear I will not make it, I will be left behind...
Then I saw this message by Naomi Holdt, an Educational Psychologist which is making rounds on social media (I copied this from Susan Robertson, Rhodes University)
"A gentle reminder about why you are utterly exhausted…
No one I know began this year on a full tank. Given the vicious onslaught of the previous two years (let’s just call it what it was) most of us dragged ourselves across the finish line of 2021… frazzled, spent, running on aged adrenaline fumes…
We crawled into 2022 still carrying shock, trauma, grief, heaviness, disbelief… The memories of a surreal existence…
And then it began… The fastest hurricane year we could ever have imagined. Whether we have consciously processed it or not, this has been a year of more pressure, more stress, and a race to “catch up” in all departments… Every. Single. One. Work, school, sports, relationships, life…
Though not intentionally aware, perhaps hopeful that the busier we are, the more readily we will forget… the more easily we will undo the emotional tangle… the more permanently we will wipe away the scarring wounds…
We can’t.
And attempts to re-create some semblance of “normal” on steroids while disregarding that for almost two years our sympathetic nervous systems were on full alert, has left our collective mental health in tatters. Our children and teens are not exempt. The natural by-product of fighting a hurricane is complete and utter exhaustion…
So before you begin questioning the absolutely depleted and wrung-dry state you are in- Pause. Breathe. Remind yourself of who you are and what you have endured. And then remind yourself of what you have overcome.
Despite it all, you’re still going. (Even on the days you stumble and find yourself face down in a pile of dirt).
Understanding brings compassion…
Most of the world’s citizens are in need of a little extra TLC at the moment. Most are donning invisible “Handle with care” posters around their necks and “Fragile” tattoos on their bodies…
Instead of racing to the finish line of this year, tread gently. Go slowly.
Amidst the chaos, find small pockets of silence. Find compassion. Allow the healing. And most of all… Be kind. There’s no human being on earth who couldn’t use just a little bit more of the healing salve of kindness".
Maybe, I should take it easy, so I can be kind to others and myself.
I wish you peace and calm as we try to make it in this world.