Brand New Day

If you didn’t laugh you’d cry.   It was January 2021 and it was meant to be an overnight stay in hospital, followed by a straightforward test that would be the gateway to getting on with my life.   It turned out somewhat differently.   I’d been prolonged over the weekend, as my test was delayed and then an abnormality was discovered- which had been hidden before now.  The cause of my bleed had been detected and a few days later I was preparing for surgery.   All of this was in the midst of Ireland’s third wave of Covid when we were topping the world’s charts for all the wrong reasons.  The meaningful Christmas we had been promised- and some had enjoyed- and the UK variant had got together to ruin our party.  Covid cases were on our ward and on the minds of the staff- many of whom had suffered and were returning to work themselves.   It was no laughing matter, yet comedy prevailed .  The good humour of staff and patients together in the ...

Winter came unannounced, in a summer ambulance interupting life’s free flowing dance The joy of our time of holidays in Summer 2020- reconnecting with friends and family- after a difficult time apart was cruelly and unexpectedly interupted by the bleed on my brain.  It felt like winter had arrived- harsh, cold and unwelcome.  I was sat down from life’s free flowing dance and questioning-  “What’s going on here?” The winter of the first Covid lockdown in Ireland arrived in Spring 2020.  It was, in one sense, actually an unseasonably sustained period of dry days and warm sunshine- which softened the restrictions as the garden of nature could be enjoyed.  On the other hand, however, winter had arrived.  The streets in town were quiet and stripped bare, like trees in the thick of winter.  The cool and harsh wind of Covid left us inside huddling for warmth and any comfort we could find.  The hustle and bustle of our lives was unexpectedly interupted....

Laughter really can be the best medicine .    I was laughing with the physiotherapist in the hospital as we were doing exercises to improve my balance.   The bleed on my brain had occurred in my cerebellum: which is responsible for balance and co-ordination.   So, it would be fair to say I was pretty shaky on my feet.   Truth is balance has never been my strong suit.   So we were laughing at the irony that it was here I was weakened.   The physio assured me that to gain my balance again I would need to challenge it.   I had already given one student nurse a scare with a wobbly moment on my travels!   It seemed there would be some more near misses ahead on the road to recovering balance. The same unsettling dizziness was felt by many as coronavirus arrived and our world was shaken.  Amidst the storm, however, we were not all in the same boat, but certainly facing the same conditions being ‘all at sea.’   - Those who were front line w...

from Languishing through Lamenting to Life It seems we’re languishing: a word that has resonated in the hearts and minds of many in 2021.   The article by psychologist Adam Grant in the New York Times has been readly wide and shared.  He defines languishing as,”…a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.” When we’ve become stagnant this fresh perspective or even fresh language can help us find our way forwards.  Life is a mysterious medley of messy emotions at the best of times, but when we face trying times we find ourselves more shaken and stirred than ever before.   Is it any wonder our hearts are faint?  They’ve been carrying the weight of grief for a prolonged period.  Never mind the considerable burden of anxiety that accompanied each twist and turn.  “A joyful heart is good medicine,  but a crushe...