Stress
October 18, 2016, 10:34 pm
The upcoming Presidential election seems to be a choice between Democracy and decency or demagoguery, racism and misogyny. This surreal situation has landed many of us in a state of constant stress.
Stress is harmful to health. Lately, I have been hearing much advice from the media and friends on how to stay sane in the midst of this electoral madness.
One suggested option is wine…..lots of wine. My guess is that liquor stores are seeing an uptick in sales. However, drinking oneself into oblivion, while tempting, is probably not the wisest solution.
Meditation and slow breathing are also proffered as anxiety reducing techniques. Unfortunately, some of us don’t get any results from mindful breathing except slower breaths……the mind still races full speed ahead.
My only escape from the current political scene is reading. I have been checking out piles of books from my library and making sure the books are by my favorite authors. Recently, I was overjoyed to get Alexander McCall Smith’s latest book in his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series entitled Precious and Grace. For three blissful, stress escaping hours, I read the book straight through.
Alexander McCall Smith is a medical ethicist by profession, and his books are not detective novels. They are, however, about the mystery of love and human nature.
Here is an excerpt from Precious and Grace:
Mma Ramotswe smiled. It was some time since she had heard the word skellum, as it seemed to have passed out of favour. Yet it was such a fine word, that so effectively described a rogue or a rascal; a word that her father had used eloquently, picked up from the Boers, when describing dealers who paid poor farmers too little for their cattle, or traders who doctored their scales so that they could give short shrift to buyers of sorghum or maize meal. Obed Ramotswe had seen these as skellums and would call them that to their face; now, perhaps, the skellums could get away with it because people were afraid to stand up to them, or were no longer sure what was right or wrong, or were afraid to identify wickedness or sleaze when they saw it.
photo: menucha.org
9 Comments for this entry
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Greetings and welcome...
The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its thirteenth year. I am obviously a believer in these words from E. B. White. "We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." Thank you for reading the writing that I delight in doing.
Posts
October 18th, 2016 on 11:02 PM
Voting early helps too!
October 18th, 2016 on 11:29 PM
You are right about that, Noreen. Both Russ and I have voted and it felt so good to mark those boxes for Hillary and Russ Feingold.
October 19th, 2016 on 12:07 AM
I’ve been waiting for that pleasure since 2008 :) and to retire John McCain who has worn out his welcome.
October 19th, 2016 on 6:51 AM
You are so right, Mary! My recent escape was my car, where I finished listening to the final chapters of Louise Penny’s “A Great Reckoning.” I wanted to keep on driving to the cozy fictional town of Three Pines, Quebec!
October 19th, 2016 on 10:52 AM
Nooooooooooo. How much stress? I can’t even read your article (but if I did, I am sure if I did, I would love it). I won’t even turn the TV on to see one of my pre-recorded shows because the debates will show up briefly as I set up the channel. Nooooooooooooooooooooo.
October 19th, 2016 on 4:53 PM
i also voted. usually vote early.
October 19th, 2016 on 6:19 PM
Mary–Well, this is no laughing matter, but you have managed to make me smile. I am into wine and meditating. And yes, reading. What’s sad is the way the debates are turning into entertainment. Watching tonight may well be like watching the opening of Saturday Night Live. Then again, I suspect HRC will bring a bit of dignity to tonight’s “performance.”
Gosh, I think I’m going to put some of this on fb.
xxxevie
October 19th, 2016 on 6:47 PM
Tonight Hillary is going to pull a “classy.”
October 23rd, 2016 on 4:28 PM
Boy, did I need this!