Mick jagger gimme shelter: my recovery was just a flash away
Fifteen years ago on his Bigger Bang tour Mick Jagger found me between a rock and a hard place, in a crossfire hurricane. Preloaded, titrating, kissing perfect strangers. Ooh, a storm is threatening my very life today. If I don’t get some shelter Ooh Yeah, I’m going to fade away During Jumpin’ Jack Flash I stood on a chair beside the catwalk. As Mick approached I pulled my low cut silk sweater down, tearing it to expose my breasts. We locked eyes. He raised his tight t-shirt dazzling us with an age defying six pack. That was it. The pinnacle of my illustrious life … More
Addiction and its social impact
Addiction is a persevering thing. Of course, perseverance is the central part of the package for those in the grips of addiction. Except now, rather than a positive and hopeful term, the context suddenly becomes dismal and foreboding. The perseverance of addiction has ruined bodies, alienated friends, and destroyed marriages. Addiction has taken away children of parents and parents of children. It is impossibly easy to start and impossibly hard to quit. It can be as pedestrian as a cup of coffee in the morning, or as hedonistic as a line of coke at night. It can be as foreign … More
beating burnout through self-nourishment
Burnout. Compassion fatigue. Chronic work stress. Vicarious trauma. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Demoralization. Moral distress. Moral injury. Moral compromise. These are all less stigmatizing terms than Adjustment Disorder with depression and/or anxiety. BURNOUT: 1) Exhaustion 2) Mental/emotional detachment from our jobs which have become less rewarding 3) Poorer work performance; “This isn’t me”. 4) Cynical, irritable & judgmental trending 5) Erosion of the soul in those of us with ideals and conviction 6) Low personal autonomy/agency with high job stress 7) *Not necessarily individual failure so much as social & occupational injustice begging political solutions MORAL DISTRESS arises when … More
