Embracing change

As ambulance strikes continue, patient wait times outside hospital emergency departments continue to rise, and the cost of living becomes ever-more unmanageable, stress is at a high. Finding time to slow down and do things we enjoy feels impossible and, where possible, perhaps irresponsible or frivolous. When the state of the world feels too serious or dire, it feels like we should be doing something important—and every reader of this journal certainly spends much of their time this way already.

However, there is something to be said for fun, play, laughter and engaging in mindless tasks to relax. Some days, I feel like I'm running around trying to get things done around the house. Then I look at my husband, and he is lying on the sofa playing chess on his phone or watching silly, funny videos. I feel frustrated that he should be helping me. When I voice this to him, he says he has been working all day and needs a bit of time to unwind. When put like that, it sounds fair enough. But our responsibilities around the house don't stop just because we are tired—or do they? If I say I also need to unwind, he asks me why I don't rest or relax with a book. I go on to list all the things that need doing but he continues to challenge me with what will happen if I don't do them. If we are both too tired to cook, we could order in or toss something simple together like we would for lunch.