It has dawned on me that the only thing we can really do when the world feels like a threatening place, and our own Government is against us, is to practice self-compassion and and take care of ourselves.
It isn’t easy to do when you’re feeling low and questioning your place in the world, but it really is our only option. It’s also a way of taking back control when it feels as if our future is out of our hands and under threat.
I’ve seen on TikTok how many people are distressed by the discussions of ill-thought out welfare reforms, that could force people into working more hours than they are able to, and how it is damaging their health as well as mine.
But it’s a time when we really do need to value ourselves and care for ourselves even when we’re angry with the world and anxious about what lies ahead.
Escaping into the world of books
For me, taking care of myself is taking the form of curling up on the sofa after work and reading Nineteen Minutes by my favourite author, Jodi Picoult.
It’s about a school shooting, so not the most uplifting of topics, but Picoult writes so well that I’m always drawn in from the first page, and this book is over 500 pages long so I’ll be able to immerse myself in it for weeks.
Top TV dramas
I’m also loving The Dropout on BBC iplayer, which is based on the real-life story of Elizabeth Holmes, the American entrepreneur who amassed a fortune by developing methods she claimed could test for diseases with a single drop of blood.
It’s a fascinating watch and unlike anything I’ve seen before. To know this happened in real life makes you question the workings of the human mind and how anyone can commit fraud on such a massive scale, managing to fool investors and even US cabinet officials.
The Gone and Boat Story are two others on my list to watch. Both are crime/detective dramas, one set in New Zealand where a couple have disappeared without a trace, and the other filmed in various locations around the UK with a storyline focused around two strangers who a find a haul of cocaine on a shipwrecked boat and decide to sell it and split the cash.
It feels a little self-indulgent to be spending my evenings immersed in the pleasures of reading and TV while I neglect my CIPD Human Resources course, but for the time being it is a necessity.
There will be time to pick up my studies when my hours at work reduce and when I’ve had more time to bounce back from the upset caused by occupational health.
But for now, it’s a time to relax, regroup and wait until the world feels like a better place to live in.