Times Of Swaziland: PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!
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The Editor on 30/06/2020 23:35:00


Sir,
There’s no question that life is hard. Everybody experiences tribulations that
are hard to overcome. However, whatever we’re going through, it doesn’t mean
we can’t take responsibility and get our lives together.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, so does our collective anxiety. At a time
when it’s easy to feel helpless and hopeless, one of the best things we can do
to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the country is to stay at home
wherever possible. Self-isolation and social distancing are tricky, scary,
possibly lonely concepts but they’re important.
Alongside potentially saving lives, you might be getting a free pass to waste as
much time as you like on the internet without guilt.
Lockdown
In the midst of this lockdown, we lie awake at night wondering what the future
holds for us and our loved ones. We wonder if our lives will ever get back to
normal. We wonder if and when this pandemic will be over. We wonder what will
happen to our work.
While wondering all these, a voice in my head suddenly said, ‘Pull yourself
together’! The effect was liberating, healing as I immediately knew it was the
only thing to do.
Nobody else was going to do this for me. The time of analysis and blaming and
feeling sorry was over, I had to pull myself together. The thought pulled me
from my relentless thought cycles that had kept me awake all night.
Throughout evolution, human beings have become experts in pulling themselves
together. Disasters strike again and again; the loss of a parent or a child or a
marriage falling apart. We experience bad things in our own lives and the lives
of the people around us. In the middle of despair suddenly there appears a will
to live, an indomitable spirit which tells you there’s no other way but to
pull yourself together.
Experts
Some people seem to be experts at pulling themselves together. Their bravery
shows in that they seem to need very little time to mourn a loss and quickly
move on. On the other side of the spectrum there are those who seem to have
great difficulties at pulling themselves together.
Disappointments in life and loss seem to have broken them in a way that’s very
hard to heal. Time and again they go for the wrong solutions, the quick fixes,
the drink and drug, the covering up, abusing themselves by going over and over
the wrong that’s been done to them. Most of us find ourselves struggling along
with mixed feelings somewhere between these extremes.
Process
For me ‘pulling myself together’ is a process of gathering myself. It’s a
way of acknowledging all the broken pieces around, letting them be while
gathering myself an invisible force in the centre with the pieces circling in
gravitational field around it.
We can be the most responsible people ever but still have our world falling
apart on the outside. Circumstances beyond our control shake up our worlds every
day.
When our world is falling apart, pulling ourselves together is a continual
process. Resilience, adaptability and an inner strength allow us to pull
ourselves together. People who have the passion and desire to succeed, fight, or
merely pull themselves together when everything seems bleak. Stay home, stay
safe and be healthy.
Brand Shota