February 2022 has not really been an improvement on the past couple of Februarys.
All government-mandated Covid restrictions were lifted despite infection rates remaining high, leaving the population in an 'each one for themselves' scenario, where the immune-compromised, elderly and vulnerable can no longer rely on others following simple public health measures such as mask-wearing in crowded spaces to decrease their risk of infection...
...Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin ripped through the country in a week, leaving flooding and destruction in their wake. At my beloved park the number of mature trees that were uprooted or literally torn apart was shocking to behold - I can't help but fear that extreme weather events like this are climate-change-related, and likely to become more frequent in future...
...stories of soaring energy prices, inflation, and more and more families living in poverty (having to choose between eating or heating their homes) have filled the papers...
...and then Putin invaded Ukraine, making thinly veiled threats of nuclear reprisals against any other country that tried to oppose him, and everything else seemed to pale into insignificance...
...and I'm just sad/angry almost all of the time (compulsively following the news, consumed by anxiety) yet guilty for even feeling that way because I know I'm so incredibly fortunate - to be triple-vaccinated and healthy, to have ridden out the storms, to be financially secure enough to be able to eat and heat, and to not have to live in fear of tanks, soldiers and missiles bringing destruction and death to my doorstep.
So I remind myself how lucky I really am... and I distract myself with beauty-in-the-moment...
...with daily tasks, and small achievements...
...with work on the ever-growing Rose Cottage Blanket...
...and I try to remain hopeful, to believe that there can still be blue skies and calm after the storm...
...and I tell myself to do the best I can, whenever I can, to be an OK human being in the world, because that is the only thing I can ever really hope to control anyway.
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