Well, it is now over 2 weeks since my trip. I am working a Dierks Bentley concert on Saturday and I guess I am looking forward to it. I kind of let a lot of my muscles get weak when I took time off for my trip. All I really did was snorkel and walk in Hawaii and yesterday working setting up lights at the theatre took its toll on me. I learned something from watching a documentary about some American special forces troops in Afghanistan. There was this one guy who had been shot twice in the leg and was back out on patrol with a brace on literally the next day. He was asked by a reporter if he was in pain and he said “it’s only pain if you acknowledge it” which I really liked. I have always been fascinated with applying the philosophical concept of minimizing some discomfort by comparing it to something. It all started when I was in school and we were reading Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men” to be exact. The labourers were all making plans to save up and buy a small place of their own where they wouldn’t be overworked and exploited by their bosses and one man was saying about how he paid a weeks’ pay to go into a dance club and get free drinks and a free dance with a lady and there were even free cigarettes on the table. He was told that it was ridiculous to spend a week’s pay on such things and he said, “I worked all kinds of weeks, I don’t remember any of them. But I sure remember that night.” Thinking about this beautiful passage of literature is often what helps me to be generous with family and friends. I am not going to sit and list all the things I have done for people, but ever since I got my Union job I have always felt that my money will be of a lot more value if I am careful with it and do special things not only for myself, but for family members. One small thing I often do is mail a $20 bill or a present to my niece for no reason whatsoever. It is a small thing to me, I get paid more than $20 an hour, but to a kid it shows her that I care about her and think about her, plus I think children, at least myself and other people I talked to, like to get mail especially with a surprise in it.
My sister teaches special mentally handicapped students in Ontario and this was always something I used to like about volunteering with these people when I was in school, it took so little to make them happy, they simply made me well up (even tear up) with a strong desire to show compassion to them, and now that I have a family member who is a child, I feel the same way.
Back to the whole concept of comparisons, I will try and draw an analogy to sports. When I was younger, I loved to run long distances. I would sometimes run as much as 10 or 15 miles which would often take up to two hours and after I had done that (which was incredibly enjoyable and renewing) I found I could face down a lot of difficult or time consuming tasks. When I combine that with another philosophy I use to get through difficult times which is basically that everything will eventually end, I am able to get through tough times at work, or, when I used to play volleyball or basketball or floor hockey or many of the other sports I enjoyed, I could hold on as Rudyard Kipling said so beautifully in his poem “If” “…hold on when there is nothing in you, except the will that says to them hold on.” If you enjoy any of my philosophical or literary ramblings, please leave a comment below, and I will leave you with my poem of the day, which I have simply titled, “Three Page Poem”.
Three Page Poem
Recently I was far away from these prairie lands
But both places were formed by God’s hands
Even the Hawaiian desert sands
And what they call the Drumheller bad lands
Many places on this planet Earth
I have travelled since my winter birth
Some say to live here in the cold has to be a curse
But I believe for me any other place is worse
I love the cold and the long long summer days
I love the north in so many ways
Though I’ve snorkeled in tropical island bays
I love Edmonton in so many ways
To begin with my love is here
Though rarely is she ever near
I still call her each day and hold her image dear
In the only place where my goals are clear
In Edmonton I can drink plain water from the sink
Or skate on it at a nearby rink
And slide around on the ice and let myself think
Of the words I will form with sweat and ink
As a baby it was early in the year
And though I was delicate I had naught to fear
All the purposes of the world seemed so clear
As I smiled and gurgled with my parents near
Time went on and early winter gave way to spring
And I loved to laugh and run and sing
Each day a new joy would happily bring
The possibility that I would one day live like a king
Even at fifteen in the summer of my life
I worked hard and dreamed of a baby and a wife
Though soon I would be in the midst of strife
As I marched to the tune of a military fife
At eighteen still in my tender days
I was caught up in the socialism craze
And somehow my mind gave out in many ways
Leaving me hospitalized and in a haze
Before I found the help I needed so bad
I lost a close friend whose name was Brad
And it seemed to take the meaning out of all I had
As each day I fought and yelled with my poor dad
My lifetime is now given way to fall
And finally I have learned enough to say I don’t know it all
And I now hear the trumpet call
That one day soon it will be the end of all
Life is good but I have my fears
When my father dies I will shed many tears
And I am joyful totally that my niece
Came into this world and gave my soul a new lease
I wait now in my writing den
For the snow to return once again
Trying to somehow make magic with my pen
Hoping one day soon I will find love again
Leif Gregersen
October 16, 2014
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Mental Health coping skills blog by leif gregersen 