Happy Friday!
I started this post on Tuesday, and at that point the new Prime Minister was the big news, then the new government’s energy bill would have been the the news and then yesterday, the Queen died.
I remember when Princess Diana died and the way it seemed that the whole country went nuts, this already feels similar. I will say that dying in your bed, in your favourite house, surrounded by your four children is a good death. We should all have that luck.
The country is about to embark on a few weeks of pomp and circumstance, like you wouldn’t believe and King Charles III, is not a prospect that fills me with joy. Let’s hope this King Charles manages to avoid the fate of the first King Charles but there are questions about the monarchy and its place in the constitution that need to be dealt with. We’ve ducked a lot of questions because the length of time she’d been on the throne made the institution seem timeless. It’s never been timeless and a lot of the things that look ageless, are relatively modern inventions, post Victorian even. Whether we know it not, things are about to change…
Here are this week’s links
The loss of the Queen will test a divided Britain
Liz Truss’s faith in the power of markets will be tested to destruction by a winter of strife
I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health. I’m not sure that they are all devastating lies, but yes, mental good health is circumstantial. It’s hard to be mentally well balanced when we are juggling finances, work, family and everything else and it’s hard to stay healthy if we are unhappy. Some of it is about the internal though, we sometimes just need to be aware of it and be resilient. I’m struggling a bit at the moment, the answer is to recognise that and not do what I want to do (stay in bed all the time and sleep and not do, or see anyone) but to do the things that I know will help me cope better, even though I don’t want to do them because it sucks to have to do them. My prayers at the moment (yes that’s a coping strategy) tend to be along the lines of “thank you God for all the things are good and yet, Lord please know, that I am fed up!”. Now I do this, because I have no real choice, I need to work to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach, I come from a family culture that is more about kicks up the backside and getting on with it (see the first point) and because therapy and age have given me insight and coping strategies aka resilience. Circumstantial change does need to happen, but that’s going to take time, in the meantime, we need to help ourselves while working for that change because there isn’t another option.
It’s not just Covid: the triple threat that could overwhelm the NHS this winter. A reminder to go and get my flu jab.
Things are difficult, so of course my beloved football club are making it harder. Chelsea sack Thomas Tuchel and target Brighton’s Graham Potter. If the football goes ahead on Saturday, we’ll have a new manager.
Savouring bedtime alone. This is from the Single Supplement and it’s true, my bed is one of the best things about being single!
Nic Dempsey 