Saturday, September 27, 2008

ANOTHER EQUINOX

Last Monday was our most recent Equinox. Instead of my usual biannual reflection and brainstorming, I've been pursuing a crash course in mental illnesses and how to deal with them. I'm also establishing boundaries and researching the "what if?" factor.

What if this person is arrested for unlawful behavior?

What if this person refuses to take medication that can help them (common with the mentally ill)?

What if they turn on me or suddenly disappear for weeks or months (another common pattern)?


What I find amazing is our ignorance as a culture on the subject of mental illness. Learning about it is enlightening. So many of us hide our experiences with mentally ill loved ones or refuse to speak or work publically to change the myths and stigma around the illness.

Such as saying "She's bipolar" instead of "She's got bipolar disease." A small but important linguistic definition.

In the meantime, I'm also in a group--for myself--where we are learning cognitive behavior therapies for our own anxiety and depression. We are basically reteaching ourselves to get out of old patterns and self-destructive or self-neglectful behaviors.

Add to that I had a small benign tumor the size of a small tomato removed from my right foot (7 stitches are still there), so at least I've had some time off the stressful job. What a blessing.

Funnily enough, the (Kaiser) doctors I've been in touch with all believe that our country should establish National Health Care. I love that. One doctor said McCain should have asked Hillary to be his VP partner. He also said with McCain's medical history, McCain is almost bound to have a recurrence of fatal cancer within the next 4 years. That leaves us with a moose hunter for President who will probably try her best to make abortion illegal along with a bunch of other medieval notions.

Looking at our national political situation, I keep thinking: "You couldn't make this up if you tried."

More soon I hope.

2 comments:

JaneUnder said...

You are so right, Sue, re: We couldn't make this up if we tried. A moose-hunting, polar-bear shooting, nasally twanging, ear-grating, incredibly annoying winky wink winking fundamentalist beehive haired neanderthal ex-beauty queen pagent for President. And that's only the SURFACE of what's horrifying about this wildly disqualified joke of a candidate. Freaking unbelievable.

Granny Sue said...

Thanks for the comment Jane.

The politics just get worse and worse. I notice McCain is looking more and more worn out and older. While his wife looks more and more botoxed.

I think we're in for some tough economic times real soon and that might work in Obama's favor.