Reflections for " Staying at Home "

 

‘This too shall pass.’

 

There will be some very painful moments in your life, my friend.

There will be moments, days even, when the sun doesn’t seem to rise in your world and the breath feels sucked right out of your lungs.

When food has no taste, the world has no joy and everything seems like an effort too far.

Yes, my friend, there will be very painful moments in your life.

But you will get through them

‘This too shall pass.’

Because life has a way of throwing you a rope, just at the very moment when you thought you couldn’t swim another stroke.

All you have to do is grab it.

Then one day, as is the way of this life, the sun will suddenly beat down on your face again and the air will feel fresher than it ever did.

And there will be laughter. And love. And joy. So much joy.

And life will be sweet, like summer after a long winter. A winter that was so dark each colour that appears, feels like the first time you are seeing it.

This is when you must live. Really live.

For, just as the bad times do not last forever neither do the good.

‘This too shall pass.’

But that is life.

So, embrace the joy when it comes and let fear slide away. And when the dark times come around again – and they will – remember you have what you need to survive. And you will survive my friend.

You really will.

Keep the important people close and focus on what truly matters and you will find yourself dragged to safety, each and every time the storms come.

And on those days, when your sun is high in the sky but you notice another facing bad weather, you drop your raft and you go to them.

And if they won’t climb in with you, to safety, you simply stay with them in the stormy water till the sun rises again.

And it will.

it always does.

Donna Ashworth

Spare a thought for our Health Care Workers.

 

The respect is gone. The appreciation is gone. The understanding and patience is gone.

The “thank you so much for working through this” has been replaced by “this is ridiculous”.

Understandably the frustration felt by patients and their relatives is at an all time high. The annoyed eye rolls and huffy sighs when you tell them “it shouldn’t be much longer,” “we are doing the best that we can” are really starting to chip away at our morale.

The free coffee and meals are a thing of the past. Not sure when I last heard a “Thank You.”

The hotel lights in the shape of hearts aren’t on anymore.

The neighbours that waved us off to work and told us to “stay safe” have gone back inside.

And the local news is back to pointing out our short comings even though the number of patients that we care for has doubled.

We are still here.                                                                                                                                                          

We are still fighting.                                                                                                                                       

We are working harder than we ever have.

We are exhausted.

We are frustrated.

We are frightened because we may take this home to our Loved Ones.

We are so emotionally and physically drained.

We are skipping breaks and eating whatever is handy just to keep us going.

We are going in early and coming home late.

We are working too many double shifts.

We are missing time with our families.

We are doing THE. BEST. THAT. WE. CAN.

We aren’t “healthcare heroes” anymore.                                                                                                                                                                                                   We have become slaves to this pandemic, and it is really exhausting.