Control Freak! Yes - you called? Okay I admit it, I like order in my day, routine, purpose, the towels to be even on the rack and my pictures have museum putty keeping them from tilting on the wall. Some of you, my peeps, are saying so what is wrong with that and yet others are muttering psychoooooo.
We are all different and we all deal with stresses, hardships, and joy in so many ways. As the world has spiraled into a global pandemic, our hospitals filling with the sick and sadly the dying, thousands being laid off, and the economy moving in an unknown path we will all address these challenges differently. No one way is correct but what is important is to find what is correct for you, to not judge others that deal with things differently, and to try to really empathize with each other. Sometime we get stuck on tone or someone’s emotion verse what is lying underneath. Back in the day I used to be a Registered Dental Hygienist. Patients would often come in seeming to be rude or act strangely. As we grew to know each other I learned that those that acted the most ‘off’ were those dealing with some past insult, current fear often of the dental office or other underlying situation that they were probably not even aware was surfacing. We often compensate for a prior sadness with some front to protect ourselves from additional injury. During this time it is important to listen to those that need to be heard. To look for that underlying reason for how they are behaving and to have compassion for what they have been through or what they are going through today. I have learned so much about people’s health that I never knew they were dealing with. For someone without underlying issues this virus is not as frightening as it is for someone who is compromised. Someone may have had a relative or close friend who became gravely ill or died from an illness yet others just struggle with the stress of the unknown. This crisis can have the ability for each of us to learn about ourselves and learn about each other if we let it. And when we know each other, we care and the world just gets a little bit better.