the good doctor On: Restful Respite

Blog Vol.II, # 18. Restful Respite.

Every fall I take a week off to regroup. It has been quite a week so far. With school starting up again, there are all the tensions of coming together as a society, agreeing to be kind and thoughtful with each other, and trying to make this work. Amidst hyperventilating and trying to calm down as our anxiety levels rise, we are reminded of all the stresses of the COVID era. Some observations:

People are pretty resilient and willing to give this grand experiment another go. My week off is as an observer, trying to dissociate myself from all that is going on around. I need perspective. I turn to nature at times like this: the flowering sedums that are full-out now, teeming with honey bees as they give their nectar and pollen to the ever filling combs. We spent the lunch hour yesterday having a picnic at Minet’s Point in Barrie with refreshing breezes off the bay, the sun peeping out among the slow-moving cumulus clouds, the red pines, oaks and maples gently swaying their leaves and limbs in time to the moving air, and fresh food a la fresco. Perspective, making it possible to be in that moment in the midst of all the white noise, then capturing those moments for the long haul, a repository of sanity as the water levels rise around you.

I definitely need the break.

Take time to create and hold on to those moments.

til next week,

The good doctor

Dr. Mark Germain, Burlington Optometrist