Continuing to fight a good fight

We could almost hear a collective groan sweep across regional Victoria when Premier Daniel Andrews announced a return of stage-three restrictions.

Most of us had expected as much as it became obvious a clamp down on Melbourne was failing to prevent COVID-19 from escaping into the regions, let alone quelling its infection rate in the state’s capital.

With an even tougher and necessary tightening of the screws in Melbourne has come another six weeks of hunkering down in the regions – albeit to nowhere near the extent of metropolitan areas.

Returning to tougher restrictions is like being in a fist fight against a rugged bully. We’ve copped an early glancing blow to get the donnybrook started, dodged a heavy second punch to generate some confidence and thrown a few jabs of our own.

But we’ve now copped a telling follow-up blow to the chin that’s left the legs a bit wobbly and raised all sorts of thoughts about survival and a need to navigate a way to safety.

While the physical health, especially of our most vulnerable is under obvious attack, our mental wellbeing is also copping a hammering.

Mental resilience is an over-arching defensive mechanism, but like any other human attribute, can become vulnerable under the weight of a variety of circumstances and expectations.

While some in society have in-built mechanisms to methodically work through the ills of stress and anxiety, it can be much harder for others, regardless of how ‘tough’ they might seem.

Mental health is a precious commodity and the foundation of overall community strength.

It is something we must clearly identify and always work to nourish, strengthen and preserve.

Critically, this involves people helping people – sometimes simply by reaching out, calling a mate, having a chat, finding a way to have a laugh with each other and being aware that loneliness and hardship comes in many guises.

We’ve all heard ad-nauseum the expression ‘we are all in this together’, but it’s true.

We’re an inventive lot, having as a society proved time and again our ability to weather a fierce storm.

We’re again under nature’s microscope and we must be confident that we can build our resilience through solidarity and collective effort.