Mental health check-in

bsman said:
I don't tend to check in here much, but this is getting real. My parents have been in hospice care since last October (really taking their time!) but very close to kicking it. My dad had kept his marbles intact up to this point, but we very much see the cancer has gotten into his brain. My sister and I are hoping that mom takes him with her - she's now taking no drugs except (lots of) pain meds. The shitty part is that I'm 2K miles away, but my sister lives right there in MadCity. I am just glad that I spent a very few days there in January. My son and I were planning to go back in April, but. I know my sister is having to/going to have to deal with all the shit after they're gone, and there's not really any practical way for me to help. I've offered to help in zoom meetings to deal with some of the 'business' aspects, but...

Meantime, I've suffered two Deloitte audits (covering three years) of my company and my boss is trying to launch a series A round, which will necessitate much interface with Krashpads -- er... lawyers, and all those hilarious sorts. I've been dealing with stuff from the east coast to Japan, which means my workdays start at 7am and run up to 10pm on not-infrequent occasions. Plus, our adult daughter is living with us, which is great because her job has been slashed - she's gone from working full time on a great salary to doing telehealth on an hourly basis, so her pay is a fraction. She's frantically searching for a new job, and she suffers from that toxic anxiety that so many high-achieving millennial woman seem to exhibit. We all love each other very much, but after almost six months of constant togetherness, my wife and I are ready to strangle her, and vice versa.

Phew! This bullshit can't end quickly enough for me. "It will just disappear" my ass... :gah:
Click to expand...

Mojo bsman
 
dmn23 said:
I canceled my gym membership a while ago and the summer heat has killed any motivation to get out and do anything, so I bought a stationary bike trainer stand and used it for the first time last night. I just set up in the living room and found something to watch and I rode for about 30 minutes. I'd forgotten how important exercise is, I felt noticeably better immediately.

View attachment 59682
Click to expand...

Indeed. Getting the blood flowing daily is a must for me. I try to break a sweat two times a day.
 
It is exhausting. I will say that I had a really productive personal counseling session, and then a hopeful and good couples counseling session later. so lots of work in my head being done today. But that is good, on the personal front.

The news, however, is exhausting.
 
My metal band is headlining a show coming up with a bunch of country bands lol. Food trucks, camping, should be fun. Were also going to keep playing downtown at that amphitheater we played at last week.

Music is keeping me sane.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Had four days in a row of cycling which helped. Day off from cycling today. The news is just so crazed, it is really hard to stay informed at all, and not start to lose my shit.
Click to expand...

I would think, under the circumstances, it would be best just to ignore the news altogether, if that's possible.
 
nuke_diver said:
I would think, under the circumstances, it would be best just to ignore the news altogether, if that's possible.
Click to expand...
At least for the most part, or at least most of the week, probably not a bad idea. It is not like anything I learn from the news is likely to change my course of action for the next little while. and if something was big enough to do that, I would hear about it anyway.
 
Last edited:
sunvalleylaw said:
Had four days in a row of cycling which helped. Day off from cycling today. The news is just so crazed, it is really hard to stay informed at all, and not start to lose my shit.
Click to expand...

Might be worth checking out the ground news app.
While it can't make the new less content less depressing, it attempts to provide balanced reporting by identifying source bias and remove some of the fragmentation
 
I've been feeling pretty good lately. Kids are back at school. Schools seem to be taking things very seriously. Finally got all the COVID cases out of work and are rebuilding census rapidly. Just had my 15th weekly test on Tuesday. Negative again. Hooray!
 
Lerxst said:
Might be worth checking out the ground news app.
While it can't make the new less content less depressing, it attempts to provide balanced reporting by identifying source bias and remove some of the fragmentation
Click to expand...
Good idea.

Worked all day yesterday on making sure a guardianship I had put together on an emergency basis for a mentally ill man was honored by health care, such that we could get a bed for him somewhere for some help, and after a lot of arguing, bitching and threats to can the guardianship if the state would not help the parents enforce their legal authority to prevent him from running (basically, get the cops to make sure he stays put while we waited for a bed and transportation to be arranged) and make the state deal with it. I was running up against the state’s position of no involuntary commitment if there is a guardianship, a mentally ill man who will say the right thing in one moment, but then run off, to go commit some more crimes (he is currently facing a felony, and multiple misdemeanors for acts committed while he was off his meds) and get further down in a hole, while drunk and off his meds, but police who don’t want to do anything as they are tired of him and he hadn’t really hurt anyone, yet. My point was if the parents cannot get assistance from the state to enforce their legal authority to make sure he makes it to doctor prescribed treatment that the guardian agrees with, then why should the parents spend money to do all that? If the only way to get police assistance is to have it be part of an involuntary commitment process (one of which briefly started up yesterday before they realized there was a guardianship) then I guess even though it would seem better for the parents/guardians to be in place to arrange some help for the man, in the long run it is not if they cannot get the authority of law to enforce the plan. So therefore, may as well let the State deal with it, and then the cops can be required to be involved. After some conversations with the prosecutor’s office, the officers were convinced to stay. I was feeling pretty ACAB after that. Like why should I have to tattle on the cops to the prosecutors to get some help for these people? These cops know this guy, and know they would be dealing with him pretty soon again anyway. So why not just station a couple of guys there for a few hours to make sure he doesn’t run off in his hospital garb down to the willows down by the river and create a dangerous chase situation and instead make sure that he gets to his treatment? Too proactive or something? There is a legal order of guardianship providing authority.

But got a nice little easy spin around on my gravel bike, on the roads down by the river, looking at the sun go down and feeling the air currents as things cooled down, and that helped calm me down. Bikes are a good thing. Outside, water, the smell of earth, and evening light is nice too.
 
I'm on vacation this week, just hanging about the house, getting a bunch of chores done.

Got my hair cut this morning, first time in nearly a year.

Encouraged by latest vaccine talk, but discouraged by all the baggage that entails.

All together, no complaints. Been better, been way worse.
 
my youngest 3 are now in preschool. its really fun taking them and picking them up each day. the twins sit next to each other and its so funny watching them talk to each other and the faces they make.

been doing pretty good lately. life is good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top