Did you hear about the guy who recently tweeted “I am not ok. Feeling rock bottom. Please take a few seconds to say hello if you see this tweet. Thank you.”
Edmund O’Leary tweeted his cry for help on a Friday night and was subsequently inundated with hundreds of thousands of people sending him words of kindness. The tweet has now been seen over 10 million times, with nearly 100,000 replies and 300,000 likes.
In response to his tweet people have shared inspirational pictures, he’s received offers of help, invites for a coffee and more. It kind of restores your faith in humanity doesn’t it?
Times are tough for many of us at the moment. Over the last week or so my house has been full of wobbles, melt-downs, unexpected reactions and some fairly intense emotions. It felt like something big was going on, so much so that I even found myself asking google if Mars was in retrograde. And during my search I came across this great article which talks about the ‘six-month wall’, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Ever the psychologist, I always feel better if I can understand why we might be feeling the way we’re feeling.
In summary, when we go through a crisis, the ‘six-month wall’ is to be expected. Professor Aisha Ahmad of the University of Toronto explains:
“The six-month mark in any sustained crisis is always difficult. We have all adjusted to this ‘new normal’, but might now feel like we’re running out of steam. Yet, at best, we are only one third of the way through this marathon. How can we keep going? First, in my experience, this is a very normal time to struggle or slump. I *always* hit a wall six months into a tough assignment in a disaster zone. The desire to get away, or ‘make it stop’ is intense. I’ve done this many times, and at 6 months, it’s like clockwork”.
So it seems the wall is both real and normal, and we need to cut ourselves some slack, turn up the self-care and be kind if at all possible. And some wise words from Professor Ahmad if you’re struggling too… “this too, shall pass”.
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