Persistance taken to an extreme cannot be considered a virtue. I guess that is true of most things. Except that pesky moderation. Given the opportunity I am sure I could find a way to take that to the extreme. Presented for your viewing pleasure is the Irish Rose square that took me at least a week to do. And I am not exaggerating when I say that I reworked the green lacy part sixty times. At least I don't think I am. As I have said before: crochet is soooooo easy. I watched a TED talk today by Ruby Wax titled "What's so funny about mental illness." It pulled together some of the things I have been thinking about lately. She mentions that when she was hospitalized after having a mental breakdown she didn't get any flowers or cards, just people telling her to "perk up." I am grateful that I am not surrounded by people who say idiotic things to me. That they don't have the expectation that I will be magically at 100% now that I have realized that I have not been doing well for some time. I am more often the one with unrealistic expectations. As per usual. I am also glad that I have never had to be hospitalized for mental illness. I don't think a hospital environment would be very conducive to improving the state of my mental health. Isolating. Bad smelling. Fluorescent lights and loud noises all night. Terrible food. And kinda scary. Here is the next thing I am grateful for: that I live in an age where depression is treatable. Where even if there is some stigma attached there is growing recognition that mental illness is quite common. That it doesn't prey on the weak-minded. That it isn't a sign of being "deep." It isn't a requirement of an artistic temperament. Because I can tell you that when I am DEPRESSED there is no artistic expression going on.
Treatable but not imaginary. A chronic condition that I can live with so long as I am getting the help I need. Not something I can snap myself out of. And if I have to take medication for the rest of my life, then so be it. When I resisted drugs for the first time my doc asked if I would deny insulin to a diabetic. Of course not. So... Daily Convexions
Comments are closed.
|
Archives
May 2020
Categories
All
K. BuchananQuaker, teacher, parent, |