Anxiety, fear, and depression can be useful feelings. They are frequently legitimate feelings in reaction to bad things happening and are not always an imbalance of chemicals in the brain.
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| Risher in Nicaragua |
I remember a visit with the late Risher Brabham, who led many delegations down here with joy. I had written him to coordinate his trip and was late in responding to his questions. I told him that I was feeling depressed. He brought me scotch for “my depression” and then as we were sitting on the porch laughing and catching up, our sons – at those ages - one-by-one came onto the porch fussing about each other or something or other. Risher said, “Well, I know why you’re depressed!”
Sometimes it is natural to feel depressed, scared, and anxious. And sometimes whole groups of people can feel depressed, scared, and anxious.
While visiting Nicaragua in the 1980s right after the revolution, people here were hopeful and even though the U.S. was waging a war, there was a determination in their voices and strength and pride in their posture. When we moved here in 1994, after the U.S. basically* said “elect Violeta Chamorro or the trade embargo continues”…after the Contra war where 30,000 Nicaraguans had died, many more were wounded, and the economy was wrecked…the country was in a pit of depression. They had cried “uncle.”
With climate change happening as rapidly as it is and disasters hitting people worldwide, people are scared and angry. As government leaders continue to not address Climate Change with urgency, young people are scared and anxious…and rightly so.
The question we have to ask ourselves is: can we act using the fear and anxiety to motivate us to move, or will the depression wrap around us like a straight jacket and we quit?
Sometimes it is natural to feel depressed, scared, and anxious. And sometimes whole groups of people can feel depressed, scared, and anxious.
While visiting Nicaragua in the 1980s right after the revolution, people here were hopeful and even though the U.S. was waging a war, there was a determination in their voices and strength and pride in their posture. When we moved here in 1994, after the U.S. basically* said “elect Violeta Chamorro or the trade embargo continues”…after the Contra war where 30,000 Nicaraguans had died, many more were wounded, and the economy was wrecked…the country was in a pit of depression. They had cried “uncle.”
With climate change happening as rapidly as it is and disasters hitting people worldwide, people are scared and angry. As government leaders continue to not address Climate Change with urgency, young people are scared and anxious…and rightly so.
The question we have to ask ourselves is: can we act using the fear and anxiety to motivate us to move, or will the depression wrap around us like a straight jacket and we quit?
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| Photo Shutterstock licensed |
A scene in L.A. Law years ago involved one of the lawyers during labor. At one point she started to get up from the bed and leave. Her husband asked her where she was going. She said, “I'm going home to rest. Then I’ll come back tomorrow and finish this”... then a contraction came.
I laughed so hard, because I remembered with my long labor delivering Coury, that I just wanted to stop and rest. The midwife kept saying, “when the baby comes, you can stop.” With labor though, your body goes into auto-drive and even though rest is what you crave, you can’t...until the baby comes.
This is true in medical crises: when people with injuries end up in the ER, doctors and nurses work tirelessly until the patient is stable. In war, people have to keep staying safe, taking care of wounded, and fighting until the battle stops. In disasters, people keep moving and helping until the disaster is over or contained.
Climate Change is this sort of crisis. We can only stop when the crisis is over, but unlike labor we can occasionally take R and R…like soldiers...so we can reboot. We, the Jubilee House Community, are doing so next week starting on Wednesday**. We are taking three days to laugh, visit with each other, enjoy the young ones…maybe the depression blanket will loosen enough to give us new energy.
We cannot stay in the alternative reality of resting, or ignoring the fight against extinction. After the rest and relaxation or re-creation, we all must come back to the crisis, ready to do our part.
-Kathleen
**And we just learned Nicaragua will be experiencing a tropical storm or hurricane during the days we will be gone. Isn't that sweet?
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