Institutionalisation
Hi everyone
As the great Michael Jordan famously said on his return to basketball ‘I am back’ though I say this a bit more modestly and I probably won’t be appearing each week! It’s been a month since I last wrote and much has changed – and stayed the same.
We are coming out step by step – there is nervousness and confusion, holidays are available and then quarantines imposed, people are not sure what is safe and what isn’t and even what the rules are – but we do know masks are on for shopping and much inside activity, outside is pretty safe, and washing hands and social distancing continue.
But psychologically? Many of you will have seen my favourite film ‘The Shawshank Redemption (and if you haven’t it’s a must) in which there is a scene where an inmate of the prison for 50 years is released on parole. Because of his institutionalisation, he cannot cope and commits suicide. Human beings are highly adaptive and I have been wondering how institutionalised we have become in our own bubbles. Does this ring true for you? Moving out has its risks and unpredictabilities – as in changing holiday advice. There is a comfort in not reaching out, a safety in the routine, an ease with a bit of zoom and avoiding those difficult decision-making risk-assessing activities. However this a deadly comfort because it allows us to let fear rule – even when the incidence of new covid-19 cases is vanishingly small. (In Wiltshire in the last recorded week there were 18 cases in just under half a million people or fill Wembley stadium and there would be three infected people.) I say deadly because life is to be found in the moving out - whether it be to have a restaurant meal, take a holiday, travel, or have face to face contact with friends and family. Without such things we live an impoverished life, a life with less meaning and pleasure. But it requires effort, emotional as well as rational, to assess these situations and make our own decisions. It is rather like having been ill and realising as you get better that being cared for in bed is now quite a pleasure and you could linger for a while – though you know in your heart that that way leads to dependence and potentially long term dis-ability.
Sandy and I have been moving out - welcoming guests, having a trip to Cornwall and so on – each time discussing the risks and coming to an agreement – as we move at different paces on this rehabilitation journey. I urge you, while the sun is shining, the virus is in abeyance and there a lots of outdoor activities to do, to do the same. It is life enhancing.