The last month has been pretty hard in the Malik household, and in full disclosure, I’m about to share some information that may seem irrelevant to me trying to do my job, so if you’re not into this sort of thing, you may want to scroll on.
But I have found that sharing “what’s going on” seems to help people, although I’m not looking for pity or even sympathy here, just understanding, so we’re gonna get into the reasons why TMR has been “banged-up” of late.
Anyway…
We’re figuring out, after two years without my mom around, that Aunt Annie needs a therapist, and needs to pay a neutral third party to listen to her difficulties pretty desperately. Aunt Annie has been struggling mightily, and it’s been incredibly painful and, at the same time, exasperating to have to watch her struggle mentally and not be able to help her. We’ve got a psych intake scheduled for her via Zoom at the end of the month with U of M, and we’re hoping that she’ll finally get the kind of outlet that she deserves.
We’re a big, “Therapy is good for you” family, and I’m gonna be honest–I sure as shit wouldn’t be able to do this blog without having a therapist to help me sort out my anxiety and depression on a monthly basis.
So getting AA back into therapy after a 30-year hiatus is really important for both of us.
I tend to place both Aunt Annie and the blogging job in front of my own health, too, and that’s yielded a very difficult November for me. As the schedule got tougher and tougher, I ended up getting both physically ill with some sort of cold that both the aunt and I are dealing with, and I’ve been dealing with my fair share of anxiety and depression as well.
The result has been less content than I’d like to produce for you, and this past week, a couple of “maintenance days” taken rather involuntarily. I’m trying to learn how to work through as much discomfort as I can take now that I’m the sole proprietor of my blog, but it’s been incredibly difficult to get out of bed lately, so I’m giving you what I can at present.
That’s not enough for me, but it’s something, and I really want to give you a daily presence as much as humanly possible while I sort out my health issues, and help Aunt Annie with her mental health challenges.
That’s a full plate, and that explains why I’ve not ventured west to Grand Rapids yet. I promise that there’s a Griffins trip or four in the offing for later this year; it’s just been a shitty November health-wise, for me and for the person the State of Michigan has officially recognized me as caregiving for, so…
I’m doing the best I can to fight through. Again, I’m not asking for sympathy or pity here, but I am asking for a bit of understanding as to why TMR has been a bit shaky of late. Nobody is perfect, and we all face our challenges in life.
Gord knows, it could be worse, but it could be better around here, too, and it’s been very gloomy and very low-energy of late. So I’ve tried to do my best to get through. This is a very specific sort of situation where healing only comes with time, both mentally and physically, so “doing nothing” doesn’t help “the process.” :/
