I wrote and scheduled a blog post on a very dark day. Then I got better and forgot to delete it. Please accept my apologies! I am well and doing each day better. I know I have a multitude of messages to answer to, I will get to them, but please know:
“I am well, I am not in any distress, I am getting better every day.”
Please forgive me for any distress I have caused you, it wasn’t my intention!
More in an upcoming blog post tomorrow or so.
I am well, please stop worrying! And thank you all for your concern and messages!
First and most importantly, this is not a ‘please some pity for poor Sybille post’, instead read it as a post on how to get the help you need. If pandemic brain fog and similar doesn’t allow you to read it to the end, here are some starting points to get help:
Speak to your GP/primary healthcare provider.
If you don’t even know who that is: google ‘mental health + the area / country you’re living in’
20+ years ago I was diagnosed with clinical / chronic depression. And I managed just fine. With a daily routine and, yes, the occasional really long walk. Then Covid hit …
The pandemic really did me in:
I never got sick.
I never got Covid.
I always was ever so careful not to run any risk at all to transmit it to others.
BUT
Whilst I did the right thing to keep everybody safe, I myself went down. I ended up in social isolation.
And I didn’t even realise how poorly I was, until I got into treatment. I am better now, better, but not fine. And tomorrow I will have another appointment with my GP, called Dr. Camino (no joke!, real name!) and together we will get there.
Most of my days I feel overwhelmed by such simple tasks as answering an email.
ALL of my days I appreciate my friends that are sticking to me and don’t let me go.
What keeps me going:
Helping others.
Growing plants.
Just breathing …
I didn’t write this blog post to get any pity, I wrote it to tell that one person that needs to hear this:
“You are not alone! There is help available! The only thing you need to do is say: “Help!”
Hugs from Santiago!
SY
PS That email or comment you sent to me will still take some time to be answered …
Not because I am too exhausted to help, but because I am so exhausted that billionaires spend billions to spend 10 minutes in space whilst so many people on earth don’t have a safe roof over their heads, nor clean water nor healthy food.
I quoted it before and I will quote the Dalai Lama again:
“We have enough for anybody’s need but not enough for everybody’s greed”
Dalai Lama
What is wrong with us humans?
How can we change this?
How can we make this earth a better place for all of us?
I am tired of hearing my doorbell ringing.
Do you have food?
Do you have basic things like masks and hand sanitizer to keep ourselves and our families as safe as possible?
It never stops, since more than a year now, and it will not stop until all of us change and live and support that every human being has the right to survive …
Every person on earth deserves:
A safe place to live.
Clean water.
Food.
Medical support.
Education.
And as long as I live and have the resources , I will give. BUT my patience grows short on those that don’t share what they have in abundance.
The ones of having the golden faucets and their own space transport.
I am so tired of those that don’t care about those that lack the bare necessities of living:
I am tired of answering the bell, but still I do, because it’s the right, the only way to live, helping others. But I am tired … that I am answering the door bell whilst billionaires are going to space …
Today I finally found a way to help the
people in my neighbourhood despite of being in lock-down. I took a
plastic box with a lid, filled it with surplus items I had around the
flat, and put a sign on it that stated in Spanish:
“Please open the box and take what you need, but please, leave the box. Your neighbour.”
And left it outside my door. By the
evening it was empty. I live on the crossing of two neighbourhoods,
to my right middle class, to my left working class or even
desperately poor.
I filled the box mainly with surplus cleaning supplies and cosmetics like soap, shampoo, and bleach. A few hours later, I was sitting on my balcony, a young woman I know from view, shouted up to me ‘Did you put the box out?’ ‘Yes’, I said. She waived the large bottle of hand soap she had taken from the box at me and shouted back ‘Muchas Gracias’ to which I responded ‘No hay de que’ (Don’t mention it/You don’t need to say thank you)
Because I was so happy to have found a
way to share what I have. My whole adult life, and especially the
last 20+ years I have been connected to the wonderful world of the
Camino de Santiago has been about sharing. When the Camino closed
down due to Coronavirus/Covid-19 I lost it, for a while. It seemed
there was nothing I could do to help. Now I found a way to do so,
helping the people that have lived, for generations, alongside the
way. It is a privilege to be able to do this.
When, as pilgrims, we packed our
backpacks, we held every item in our hands and asked ourselves ‘Do I
really need this on my Camino?’ Now it’s time to hold up the items in
our homes and houses and ask ourselves ‘Do I really need this or can
this serve somebody else better than me?’ This is walking
(stationary!at home!) the Corona Camino for me …
Tips and ideas for your own Box of Kindness:
It doesn’t have to be a box, it can be a table, a basket – or a box.
Fill it with things that are non-perishable and will hold up well.
Think outside the food box – cleaning supplies, cosmetics, yes, and toilet paper.
Add some so-called ‘luxury items’ – People may have the money to buy the bare necessities, so, put something in the box that really cheers up their day …
If you have a garden or allotment, share your produce.
If you can’t afford shopping for extra items, put the following in your Box of Kindness:
Inspirational quotes on nicely
decorated paper.
A plant or seedling from your garden or
balcony.
Anything really that would be of use to
somebody and/or cheer up their day.
Anything really that would put a smile
on your neighbours face.
Dare to be creative!
And do NOT put any prescription medication in it! You are not a doctor, just a neighbour!
Just fill your box with kindness and
the rest will take care of itself.
As for handling the box, here is what I do with mine:
It goes out at sunrise and back at
sunset.
I wear gloves to move it in and out of
the house.
I wipe it down before moving it out or
back in.
It ‘lives’ just behind the main door,
never entering my flat.
It gets checked twice daily to see what
needs stocking up.
It really ain’t rocket salad 😉 We all
have things at home that we don’t need, but others will. Let’s share
what we have, just like we did when we walked the sacred route to
Santiago.
