I spent the last week in the hospital caring for a loved one, and had a little realization that's probably not new or original or particularly unique: in the midst of stressful times, it's the normal shit that makes everything better.
I called a good friend and just listened to him talk about his job and stuff, and talked about what was going on with me, and then about magic and healing, and it was the kind of conversation he and I usually have. It was so normal, and it gave me a little bubble of sanity when everything else in my life seemed upside down.
It was a spontaneous thing, not preplanned to turn out that way. It was almost instinct to reach out and touch someone, it's only in hindsight that I understand what I was doing. I don't know if that kind of thing can be engineered. Personally, even knowing a moment of normalcy will help won't convince me to take that moment when I'm stressed to the gills. It had to be a nearly-unconscious act for it to have diverted my attention from the issues at hand long enough to recharge.
I'm the kind of person that only looks for solutions to the problems when problems are occurring, I have a stress-relief machine I operate in a crisis, and I don't stop to think about taking care of the machine. I just use it to eliminate the stress, to solve the problems. In this case, the machine is me, my thoughts, awareness, as well as my flesh suit I walk around in. Mind of Me and all that resembles it.
But that moment of normalcy with a friend was like giving the machine preventive maintenance, and gave me the boost I needed (without knowing I needed it) to stay the course and get through it in victory.
Uh, so yeah, the point of the post is "it's good to have friends." Friends to do normal shit with.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Amen to friends who bring normalcy back into the machine of our everyday lives and ease the stress. I experienced something very similar earlier in the week. Operating under extremely high stress for months has been overwhelming, but a friend called and we talked for hours; about his job, general things, and laughed our asses off. Laughter truly is the best medicine and I really didn't realize exactly how stressed out I was until after we ended our call and I was able to accomplish a ton of stuff the following day.
ReplyDeleteYes, friends are wonderful preventive maintenance. Great post.
I have you in my thoughts and prayers, RO.
ReplyDeleteHello RO
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing work on the solution and then think about myself. The normal shit always distracts us from our work but gives us our humanity.
May your loved one get well soon.
Aye, normalcy in times of stressful change is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of books that I re-read when everything seems to be falling apart. I read those books when life was at its calmest and through them I re-live those times.
On the other hand I've also learned that if there is an emotion that needs dealing with in a time of stress, it's best to deal with it as close to the time of stress as possible.
Right on man.
ReplyDeleteYou need this R.O.
ReplyDelete"Peace be with you."
:)