It’s only been about 36 hours since the term ended and I wanted to take a minute to put some ideas down to help me go through everything that has happened this term and to help myself get in to a mind space that can help me re-centre and enjoy the holiday. As I was reading this morning I came across the concepts if detachment and how it can often look like calm, but it really isn’t. Basically for a lot of people and teens, it’s the removing of any individuality or responsibility from the current situation. It’s looking at your phone and playing a game so you don’t have to think. It’s playing a video game for hours so you don’t have to face reality. Though it might feel like it, this is not being calm and it’s not restorative. This term felt like a marathon and I wondered why I was getting more and more tired. What this came down to was that I wasn’t really allowing myself to calm down, I was only trying to escape the situations that were stressing me out. I was getting home and detaching myself from the world.
Now that the term is over and I am home, I realized I was beginning to calm down. I took a moment to reflect on this and realized I wasn’t calming down because I was away from work, I was calming down because I was making time to do things that helped me be back in the mindful present. That was allowing me to feel more connected and safe. Things I wasn’t making time for during the last month of term. For me this was things like baking, or talking more with friends, taking up knitting and working on other crafts. Doing these things don’t allow me to dissociate, they forced me to be present in a positive way and that in itself restored my calmness.
I’ve seen a lot of great posts from other peers like @Mathy_Panda , @SciencewithmsLu and @SirMrMoore all about this and I know it’s been brought up a lot, but I hope you all take some time to reflect this holiday and make sure you aren’t just dissociating or detaching yourself from the world around you and are instead taking time to do things you enjoy. Thank you all for continuing to post this term, the connection this season has been so key for me and thank you!
Wherever you are I hope you are resting and happy holidays and a joyous New Year!
