51. How Are We Doing?
During dinner with friends last week, Bob was ebullient about the Yankees, Steph talked about her son's first days in junior high school, Darlene down played her fortieth birthday, and we all tried to avoid the subject of war for as long as possible. Of course, talking about our country in crisis was unavoidable.
We didn't address the topic of war from the usual newspaper headlines perspective, but more from the individual standpoint of personal revelations. It turns out that I am not the only one discovering insomnia, which is a completely new experience. Until September 11, I was of the ilk that I fall asleep the instant my head hits the pillow. It also turns out that most of us have been dreaming like crazy, so much so that one's body feels fatigued upon awakening. A few other complaints were loss of appetite, and a general feeling of lethargy. Mind you, there were three thirty-somethings in our party also sharing these same feelings of malaise, so it wasn't just an age related thing.
My recently turned twenty-two-year-old son has also been calling to complain about "feeling funky," and not being able to concentrate on his studies. "Did you hear President Bush's latest speech?" or "Have you read the latest about the anthrax news?" are his frequent queries. I've had to gently remind him to stop watching television and reading the newspapers with such new regularity. "Just focus on what you can control Kurtis, stop all the television and newspaper, concentrate on your studies." "Thanks Mom, thanks for reminding me, I guess I still need to be told what to do once in a while."
Last weekend I attended a basketball tournament to watch my nine-year-old niece do her impression of Kobe Bryant. In spite of her team win, I was disturbed to learn that she is not planning her costume for Halloween this year. She said she "doesn't feel like it."
Yes, life is going forward. The latest psychology reports, however, are stating that things have only just begun. We can expect something akin to "delayed battle syndrome" to hit us in the future, and continue from there.
This constant barrage of news isn't helping anyone to sleep better I'm sure. So, are many of us still waiting for some unknown source of information to magically make our worries disappear? No, I think not, but we all do need reminders, like my son, to focus on those areas in life where we do have some control. The main area we need to focus on is our individual well being. Perhaps our bodies are trying to tell us something through those dreams that are so fatiguing or lingering in energy.
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