On Mental Health & Crazy Life
I had to take a moment last week and ponder this question: what all can one person handle at once? I kind of was forced to do so, to be completely transparent (see last post: if you don’t deal with shit, it will deal with you).
Late last week, I started taking steps each day to ensure that I was taking care of myself emotionally and mentally again (in the wake of Covid and being everything to everyone, I had once again let this slide). I found that listening to a new podcast from my favorite self-help guru Brene Brown in the mornings set me up mentally to be able to go out into the craziness of my day (changes in policies, unknowns etc), and keep my less than calm self calm and not anxious. It is setting myself up for success each day and I saw immediate results.
It’s no secret that all of people in healthcare are struggling. Whether it be with empathy for our fellow healthcare workers fighting this good fight or the coming to work each day and seeing things and recommendations change, or not knowing where you might be training to help out in the case of need. It’s uncertain, it’s emotional sometimes, and it’s difficult. Finding my calm before the storm was huge. My method small, but done daily-effective.
Fast forward to Thursday afternoon. Backstory: I have a Father (birth father is probably more accurate), who has struggled with mental illness since before I was born. I have never been a big part of his life, or his mine. He has chosen historically to not treat his illness, commits crimes, and drinks alcohol (the cycle of a lot of people with mental illness, really). He has a history of being threatening, on occasion violent and not capable of being stable for long periods of time. In 2012, he committed a crime at the Federal Level (he has a knack for writing letters and decided to write a threatening one to the Governor of the State of Iowa, Mr. Branstad). He has been incarcerated since then because of this crime. On Thursday, a family member received a letter from him stating that he would be getting released soon, and potentially going to the area where this family member lives. GRREEEAAATTT…..just what I needed to deal with on top of so much else right now. Queue phone call to the Federal Detention Center Social Worker.
Today, I received a return call from the social worker at the Federal Detention Center. And in true ‘all is well that ends well’ fashion, my mind is calm again. Upon speaking to him, it was clarified to me that there is a working plan in place that is ideally designed to set him up for success. He will be released into a stringent situation, where he has standards to be met (to include taking his medication, not drinking alcohol, not contacting his family, and will be monitored and living in a group setting). It really is the best case scenario for someone who cannot, cannot make it on their own in public. Truly, him committing this crime created his ideal situation (which really is mind blowing, to be honest). He will be monitored and safe, and us as his family will have desires respected for distance and remain safe as well.
Everyone’s daily lives have changed in the wake of Covid. We can’t shop as usual, co-exist with other humans like we used to. Every single thing is more stressful. Add to that situations such as above, and you get even higher stress. And that’s not the body’s ideal state. In fact in situations of prolonged high stress, research has shown that the body shuts down and becomes symptomatic. So do not underestimate the importance finding your sense of calm in all this. It could be a book, podcast, movie, whatever has the ability to help you find it. It could be taking a moment of gratitude to start your day, or in my case this time, realizing how much worse life could be for me, versus enjoying the stable, beautiful life I have created.
Late last week, I started taking steps each day to ensure that I was taking care of myself emotionally and mentally again (in the wake of Covid and being everything to everyone, I had once again let this slide). I found that listening to a new podcast from my favorite self-help guru Brene Brown in the mornings set me up mentally to be able to go out into the craziness of my day (changes in policies, unknowns etc), and keep my less than calm self calm and not anxious. It is setting myself up for success each day and I saw immediate results.
It’s no secret that all of people in healthcare are struggling. Whether it be with empathy for our fellow healthcare workers fighting this good fight or the coming to work each day and seeing things and recommendations change, or not knowing where you might be training to help out in the case of need. It’s uncertain, it’s emotional sometimes, and it’s difficult. Finding my calm before the storm was huge. My method small, but done daily-effective.
Fast forward to Thursday afternoon. Backstory: I have a Father (birth father is probably more accurate), who has struggled with mental illness since before I was born. I have never been a big part of his life, or his mine. He has chosen historically to not treat his illness, commits crimes, and drinks alcohol (the cycle of a lot of people with mental illness, really). He has a history of being threatening, on occasion violent and not capable of being stable for long periods of time. In 2012, he committed a crime at the Federal Level (he has a knack for writing letters and decided to write a threatening one to the Governor of the State of Iowa, Mr. Branstad). He has been incarcerated since then because of this crime. On Thursday, a family member received a letter from him stating that he would be getting released soon, and potentially going to the area where this family member lives. GRREEEAAATTT…..just what I needed to deal with on top of so much else right now. Queue phone call to the Federal Detention Center Social Worker.
Today, I received a return call from the social worker at the Federal Detention Center. And in true ‘all is well that ends well’ fashion, my mind is calm again. Upon speaking to him, it was clarified to me that there is a working plan in place that is ideally designed to set him up for success. He will be released into a stringent situation, where he has standards to be met (to include taking his medication, not drinking alcohol, not contacting his family, and will be monitored and living in a group setting). It really is the best case scenario for someone who cannot, cannot make it on their own in public. Truly, him committing this crime created his ideal situation (which really is mind blowing, to be honest). He will be monitored and safe, and us as his family will have desires respected for distance and remain safe as well.
Everyone’s daily lives have changed in the wake of Covid. We can’t shop as usual, co-exist with other humans like we used to. Every single thing is more stressful. Add to that situations such as above, and you get even higher stress. And that’s not the body’s ideal state. In fact in situations of prolonged high stress, research has shown that the body shuts down and becomes symptomatic. So do not underestimate the importance finding your sense of calm in all this. It could be a book, podcast, movie, whatever has the ability to help you find it. It could be taking a moment of gratitude to start your day, or in my case this time, realizing how much worse life could be for me, versus enjoying the stable, beautiful life I have created.
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