Pandora's Box Has Arrived, And It's Crammed With So Many Unexpected Surprises!
You know what they say about as one door closes another opens, and, secondly, that life is full of surprises?
Well, as politics wasn't to be, and Keisha it most definitely is - and, in using yet another great cliche on board the metaphor express today, our final destination will hopefully: accounting for any delays or potential diversions, the peeling back of some onion layers to get to the root of issues to be resolved.
As Keisha's breathing and overall health begins to show a marked improvement since giving up Spice, and her entire personality begins to beam out from the darkness of a life she is gradually leaving behind, it's rewarding to hear her planning steps towards a more stable future and to know that she is seeing hope for a great many things of herself on the horizon. For me, it takes the strain of her constantly using my phone to navigate her daily life of recovery away as things currently stand.
Being someone who is fairly self-contained and independent, I have to grit my teeth as even having a dog around would drive me totally nuts because, unlike my cats, canines require far more attention, and I have this aversion to anything or anyone who is dependent on me. So, the quicker she is on her feet and running her own life independently of me while being together in a stable relationship the better.
Having said that, of course, she is starting from a point where she has pretty much nothing after being evicted from a flat where she had everything. So from my own experience of having to start all over again several times within the course of my life, I understand her current situation probably better than most, and I'm pleased that she is finding the stability she needs to start afresh with the past behind her.
A long way back in my dim and distant when I decided self-therapy would be by far the best cause of action for me as I couldn't trust professionals. In the course of my research, I stumbled upon and photocopied in its entirety a book that was written by someone with the surname of Maire, who was clearly eminent in the world of psychiatry due to the varying letters after his name, and the book was titled 'The Family of Mind'.
Now, bearing in mind this is a long, long way back in my past and the exact full details are now quite sketchy, his premise was that within our individual minds, we are a family that pulls together as one, and this dictates how we conduct our lives using the various family roles that most people will be familiar with on a day-to-day basis, however, the dysfunctional family, instead of working as one unit for the benefit of all while each following their own path will, instinctively be constantly fighting for self-survival above and beyond the needs of the other family members while trying desperately to keep the family unit going as one.
In doing so, all are kicking, screaming and shouting in what becomes an entirely self-defeating exercise and a continually broken and dysfunctional unit that creates such turmoil in the mind of the physical person, it feels like a battle that can never be won, and in order to shut out what may be described as the internal noise, or pain, substance use feels like the most viable option to deal with this internal turmoil by shutting it all out.
That's the basis of what I remember. Of course, I may be entirely incorrect in my later years’ interpretation of what was read back then. However, from my own experience, and very clear lack of professional training in psychiatry, all I can say is from a personal perspective, what I read of Maire's book certainly resonated with my past circumstances in part, at least, and, must be of such great significance that it hasn't entirely slipped from my subconscious and personal development over the years.
Do you know what suddenly springs to mind right now? Of course, you don't, and why would you unless you're an utter genius who is not of this world? Well, it's the term 'monkey see monkey do', and although it has more of a tenuous link to Keisha's life than being entirely factual I see a definite similarity to the way the entire Israeli/Palestinian protests are being conducted, and again I hark back to my former blog posts and the current age of the 'Millennials' - of which Keisha is one.
Her own drug misuse, to me, further echoes an era of learned helplessness that seems atypical of Gen X, Y, and Z, of which she is just another casualty in this increasingly dysfunctional world that hasn't learned the coping mechanisms that would enable a sense of stability within her. Thankfully she now feels and expresses stability, and in doing so can finally, in her words, "Plan for a brighter and more positive future".
Already she is making a list of essentials for when benefit payments land in her account, with clothes, food and vitamins being first rather than afterthoughts when the money's been blown on a drug binge and there's hardly enough left to buy a box of matches. I have to say, I'm hugely impressed! Now, it's a matter of following through and sticking to her plan.
