I had my first Covid test this week. Came down with a cough and a sore throat. I’ve been careful - masks, hand sanitising, social distancing and really not going out at all except for groceries and occasionally visiting a friend. Had to isolate completely until I had my results, ran out of cat biscuits… how privileged that that was my biggest concern. I am so lucky, so many others are struggling, so many others are not with the same privilege I enjoy. The Australian Government has increased the subsidised therapy sessions to 20 a year instead of 10. I hope this helps people struggling with their mental health throughout this pandemic. It will certainly help me. It will take a long time to recover. I doubt life will ever go back to the way it was pre-covid. Do we want it too? People seem to be reassessing what is important in their lives, moving out of cities in mass exoduses to quieter towns. Working from home, focussing on family. Thinking about what they want out of life. Some people are mad. I get it. There is great suffering. The planet has been given some reprieve but so many losses. Unbearable to consider. We need to care for each other more than ever. Do you have someone to talk too? Sharing a coffee with a friend is my mental health staple. My results were negative. I am fortunate. I hope you’re ok. Peace.
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When I had just finished acting school, I moved out of home for the first time and lived with a classmate who also happened to be vegetarian. It appealed to me, especially after a life time of eating chops and boiled vegetables, so I became one. As the years went by and I became more informed about how we get our meat and dairy I started to consider veganism. If slaughterhouses weren’t bad enough, the absolute misery of dairy farms and the cruelty involved is heart wrenching. I’m not going to go into it here as it has been well documented but I will say that the torture a cow feels when their male baby is taken away from them right after birth to become veal is shockingly heartbreaking, it fills my heart with anguish. The primary reason I am plant based is because of my love for animals, they are beautiful sentient beings who deserve to live their lives without fear, abuse, torture and death. There is no such thing as a humane death. A bolt to the head is a bolt to the head. Now though, my health is also a primary concern when it comes to being plant based. I have read extensively about plant based health and nutrition, done several courses and am thoroughly fascinated by the plant based world. Check out Dr Fuhrman, Dr Esselstyn, Dr Barnard, T Colin Campbell, Dr McDougalland Dr Gregor(for starters) I guess I am a plant based nerd who eats crappy vegan food more than she should. Why am I writing about this? Maybe because I believe in order to heal ourselves and our planet and to truly be compassionate people we need to stop eating animals. Simple as that. Would Covid -19 be around if people weren’t eating animals? I don’t know, I’m not a scientist or even remotely qualified person but I hesitate to guess that it probably wouldn’t. Would our hospitals be filled with people with heart disease, cancer and diabetes etc… probably not so much. I get that people like to eat animals and a lot of people think it is our right and biological necessity but it isn’t. Honestly even if it was, I wouldn’t. Let’s try and lessen the suffering in the world, including for animals. Try a vegan burger, they are quite delicious. Peace I have often heard about how gardening is good for your mental health. I remember a fantastic segment on Gardening Australia where they visited the garden of a woman whose psychologist had recommended gardening as one way to help alleviate her post natal depression. Watch it here. I have always been interested in self-sufficiency, creating a food garden and basically growing as much of our own produce as we could. As well as keeping rescue chickens. I do find that when I am in the garden, working the soil, planting, harvesting etc… it is very calming and my kids love it too. That said, we only have a couple of veggie beds. In an effort to tread lightly and reduce costs, I installed solar panels on my house, we were lucky enough to already have two water tanks on the property and now I plan to develop the garden. We don’t have a huge property, just your average suburban backyard but careful planning should allow for maximum rewards. The thing is, I don’t really know much anything about gardening, I am more of a chuck it in the ground and see what happens kind of woman. All I know is I like the idea of growing food and choosing dinner from what is in the garden. I also have two compost bins and a worm farm I am yet to fully utilise and the chook house needs replacing. If I had my way I would go all out, but for that I’d need a much bigger space, especially for all the goats I long to have. But for now, while the kids are in school and we all need stability we will make do with what we have and where we are. (which is pretty good tbh) One cool thing I have done is enrol in Milkwood’s next Permaculture Living course, which starts Monday. I can’t wait. I hope I learn loads and can implement it all...except for bees… can’t do bees… That aside, I am interested to see how I feel once I start gardening more. Will it help calm my mind, reduce episodes of anxiety and panic? Will I become a gardening addict, Will I finally get rid of the grass for veggie beds? Will I start growing a beard like Costa? We will see. Peace Well it’s a New Year and what a start. Our country is literally on fire. Lives are being lost, homes and livelihoods are being destroyed. The amount of wildlife killed is incomprehensible. Climate change is kicking our arse and yes we were warned. So what do we do? We donate, volunteer, cheer firies as they pass, prepare our homes the best we can and support each other. My home is literally surrounded by fire but thanks to the bloody amazing work of the RFS, so far we are safe. We are still under threat and our bags are packed but for the moment, we are the fortunate ones. Yesterday I cut up some food for wildlife, bought some medical supplies and donated it all to WIRES as well as making a financial donation. It’s not a lot but every little bit counts. Celeste Barber is killing it with her RFS fundraiser, which was about to hit 45 million the last time I checked and no doubt it will be way past that by the time you read this. Brilliant! Donate here. People aren’t too happy with our PM ScoMo, and his awkward handshakes/assaults aren’t making matters better. But for now, we don’t have time to focus on him. We are trying to save our country, pity he didn’t get the memo. We are getting drizzles of rain, which although glorious to feel, simply impede the back burns the RFS are trying to do to protect us against upcoming severe weather days. We are longing for the day when this will be over. The thing is once these fires are over (for this season anyway) the emotional, psychological toll on people will be huge and ongoing. People are going to need psychological support, from those who lost loved ones, those who lost their homes and livelihoods, to the wildlife volunteers who have seen so much devastation, the brilliant RFS who are experiencing so much stress and trauma and risking their lives for us every single day and everyone else who has lived in a constant state of alert and stress, all of us are going to need ongoing support. Fortunately, Magda Szubanski and Will Connolly (Eggboy) are doing their bit to raise funds for those directly affected by the fires. They have a Go Fund Me set up to provide ongoing mental health support to those most in need. Check it out here. And the animals, god help me, it’s too much. To donate to WIRES Emergency Fund go here. There are loads more places to donate, just watch out for scams. I wish my first post was cheerier but I will say the way Australia is rallying together is fucking brilliant. I am so proud of this country and of my community. Brings me to tears it does.. Peace |
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