Mental Health Monday: How Isolation is Affected By A Disablity

 

Photo by pixy.org

So, I have COVID again.  I think this is the 3rd time.

I have talked about isolation elsewhere in my blog.  I've heard on the news that experts haven't yet seen how COVID and isolation have and will affect people's mental illness

However, I can talk about my Cerebral Palsy and the isolation that goes along with it.

I think anything that causes you to feel different than others can cause you to feel isolated.

Thus many, probably most of us, feel isolated now and then.

Isolation is lonely.  It's like being stuck on an iceberg,  surrounded by islands.  You know others are there, but you can't get to them.

Remember that feeling as a kid of being picked last (or never) for dodgeball?

Even though I know many disabled people, many people with CP, in my own warped thinking, I think nobody can understand how I feel.

People may call us selfish, but when we are in the thick of their situation, we don't know how we would react.

I think there is a difference between feeling a natural genuine reaction to a problem and feeling sorry for yourself and entitled to something.

Even more than that, I think we need to have compassion for those who feel isolated.  We need to be able to look with love at people and see that they're hurting; not judge them because they're hurting.

So, as we're considering what mental illness looks like in a posted COVID world, and its isolation, we need to be gentle and caring, remembering that we are sailing in uncharted waters.

Wednesday's Word: Compassion

 

Photo by Pixy

Everyone needs COMPASSION!

The definition of compassion is:

"sympathetic consciousness of other's distress together with a desire to alleviate it"   Merriam-Webster

Covid has taught us many, many things.  We have been reminded of how heroic people can be; not just in America, but all over the world. I don't think anyone has been praised (and rightly so) more than the people in the medical field; especially those on the front lines: like emergency rooms and ICUs.However,  the other side of the coin is that not many people want to work in health care right now.Since I live in a nursing facility, I am seeing this firsthand. We don't have enough nurses or CNAs (certified nurse assistants).  They are always short.  Some of the CNAs work through agencies (because they pay more) and many of them really don't care how they deal with the residents because they'll be at a different facility the next day.  The CNAs who do care are stretched to their limits and many don't have time to give the residents the care that they need and deserve.But, what I want to talk about now is the compassion that we owe the people who take care of us.Our society has such a "the customer is always right" morality, that many of us don't show others the common courtesy that everyone deserves.I can remember when were kids, if we didn't say "yes ma'am, no ma'am; yes sir, no sir; please and thank you", we better hope our daddy didn't find out!!!Most people work really hard; it doesn't matter if you're the top neurosurgeon in the world or a garbage collector; EVERYONE deserves respect.Sometimes, all it takes is a simple "thank you" and a smile to lift someone's weary soul.


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