Your oxygen mask of hope at Christmas
A view by health and wellbeing campaigner Barabel McKay, chairwoman of the volunteer Mid Argyll-based Health and Care Group
‘Be kind to yourself.’ Easy to say, difficult to do.
And there is the new, guilt inducing, one: ‘Be kind to your future self.’ No more quick fixes that come back to bite you. The best advice I have been given this year came from a nearly 95-year-old.
She suggested leaving unplanned spaces in life to allow for time overruns, unexpected events; keeping a handful of little white lies, so that pressing demands could be evaded without offence.
Women in particular can find difficulty in saying 'No'. Caring for others becomes a habit, you can forget that it is necessary to care first for oneself. She added: ‘Make sure your own oxygen mask is working before you try to help anyone else with theirs.’
We all have different things which feed our soul.
For many this year, the situation may seem desperate and out of control. You are not alone. Shakespeare put it, ‘All lost! To prayers’.
In the difficult times of the past, people got together for testimony meetings, where they encouraged each other by sharing what happened as a result of prayer.
You may have heard of the Dochas Centre; dochas meaning ‘hope’. You may not know that it came into being after John and Catherine Paterson prayed in their own desperate moments.
It provides the help you may need for all sorts of difficulties. Across the road is the MS Centre, with an amazing reservoir of support. Just ask!
And there is Argyll and Bute Citizen’s Advice Bureau, in new Lochgilphead premises but offering the same invaluable service. Many other groups are out there to offer support.
The health and care group aims to represent the views of service users and their families. Email barabelmck@ gmail.com for more.