Published on 12, July, 2020
Shutdowns are part of life. There are multiple root causes for a shutdown, including the result of sensory overload, physical and mental exhaustion, unexpected news, anxiety about an upcoming event, and upheaval in our schedule. Sometimes it comes in combination; other times it comes down to simply being “on” for so long, that we have no choice but to turn “off.”
Are you always aware that you are about to go into "shutdown"?
What strategies to you use to help recover from them?
How do you "resurface"
How do you describe what they are to others and try to manage their occurrence?
I wish I could always have a healthy approach to them. I don't have a bath, unfortunately - but a swim or a run often helps. Especially a swim. Can only really do that in summer, though. I'm lucky enough to live just 200 yards from the sea, and it's a gentle enough coastline with no deep troughs or rip-tides. At the moment, with high tides being about the right times each day, I'm managing morning and evening swims. The water's generally quite warm, too - though most people would probably say it's 'freeeeezing!' To me, it's the most wonderful thing to be in the water swimming along, then to just stop and turn over to float, looking up at the sky. This morning it was raining, too - lovely, gentle, warm rain. Passers-by must've thought I was nuts. Well... so I am! The water's usually fine from May until September. In the winter - just when I need it most, really - I have to leave it. I can't handle public baths. Chemicals. Noise. And people, of course.
Other times, I try to manage it with writing in some way - if I have the mental capacity for it. Other than that... it's, I'm afraid, alcohol. And then sleep. I have a complicated relationship with alcohol. I know it's a depressant. I know it isn't good for me physically. But actually, sometimes, I can drink myself to a stupor... and then awake feeling 'fixed' in some way. It's like it's fused my circuit board, and the switches have all been reset. I've never tried other drugs (okay, dope once... but it just made me laugh too much!), but I often wonder about some of the hallucinogenics. Knowing my luck, I'd be a bad trip personality. But I have friends who say it's been like mentally wiping the slate clean and refreshing it. That would be nice. I don't know so much about 'expansion of consciousness' - but then, I've never tried, so I wouldn't.
Recovery? I don't know. It's just like a mood swing. It eventually moves on. Until the next one.
You can't kidnap me, by the way. The cat would starve!
We'll have to kidnap Daisy as well! She'd like my Bengal! I also have Dreamies! So talk it through with her.
Chances of expansive space are key whether it is an open sea, or an open landscape. For me, spending a week either behind a computer screen or in a classroom .... liberating space is crucial..but I don't get a chance to get out as much as I'd like!
I to self medicate/ soothe with alcohol...namely to try to enforce relaxation and turn the volume knob of the brain down! With no one at home to de-stress after the day...a glass or two of wine, some headphones music to bring on positive vibes or to chill is a daily routine....
like you, I am aware that this has (a) negative effects and (b) is not sustainable
BTW the statement "I don't have a bath" is a concern......I hope that the local marine wildlife have a handle on this! Lol
Had a dear aunt in Cromer....she had two boys but unfortunately her daughter was still-birth. As a result she made a big fuss of me and my sister. A lively women, but not given the remit to truly "be"...
i used to live in Uffculme.. google Uffculme mill...that is where I used to live..,,think kingfishers and otters! I used to call it spinsters alley as in our row of workshop cottages we were all single women in recovery ...
It's depth. Need something to come up to my chin, and my tub just about half-fills. We lived in Devon for four years when I was a teen, and Dartmoor wasn't far away. I worked near Ashburton. I was mad on Sherlock Holmes as a kid. 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' was my favourite book. Still is, in some ways. I'd go back to Totnes to live, but it's not the same place now. Gentrified out of existence. Too expensive. More like a suburb of London now. Another favourite spot is the long, empty Norfolk coast from Gt Yarmouth up to Cromer.
Is that you trying to find the perfect bubble to subsist?
God I miss Dartmoor and Exmoor...packed up from Devon two years ago...I love the wildness of it... I take it you didn't fancy the 10 tor challenge?
always loved the burger van at hound tor called - "hound of the basketmeals"
happy days!
how big is a puddle? Riddle me that, batman!
The shower doesn't really cut it. I have a bathtub, and do love a bath. But my water tank only holds enough to heat a puddle.
Wide open spaces, yes. Dartmoor usually does it for me. Wild-camped on there once. Just hiked in about 2 miles north of Two Bridges, past the ancient oaks of Wistman's Wood. Pitched tent on the side of a hill. Miles from any other living thing except sheep. Woke in the morning to a mist so thick I couldn't see anything beyond 5 yards. Totally alone and quiet. Perfect. The moor is a place that always calls me back.