Mental Health Monday

Getting Personal + Climate Folly + Diversity

Some personal reflections

It's been 4 years since my last back-to-school experiences at Lutheran High. There were warning signs that I was suffering from burnout.

• I hadn't finished revisions to our school handbooks, something which should have been finished by registration day.
• I had postponed determining financial awards for families, something which should have been finished by early to mid-July.
• I had neglected to finalize department budgets, which should have been finished by the time faculty reported back for duty on 8/1.
• I hadn't finished finalizing plans for back-to-school mtgs until the very morning of the first mtg.
• My TO-DO list had grown to 4 pages, so it was taking me almost an hour each morning just to "process" my list.
• I wasn't keeping up with my emails, so I had dozens of messages waiting for me to "process" each morning. This was one of the items that caused me to spend so much time planning when I should have been doing.
• I was working until 5:00-6:00p each day, Saturdays, & SUN afternoons. 

Things had reached a breaking point by OCT, & I was strongly "encouraged" to take medical leave-of-absence, beginning the first week of NOV. I never returned to duty.

"Burnout" is a layperson's term which encompasses clinical depression & anxiety. I knew that I was digging myself into an ever-deepening hole, but my solution was to keep working longer hours. When I began my leave of absence, I was convinced that the main benefit was time to get caught up, not time to attend to more deeply rooted issues.

The rest is "history." In March of 2015 it was determined that it would be in both my & Lutheran High's best interests if I did not return to duty. I continued on medical disability until 2017. In March 2017 I officially retired. Meanwhile, I had begun writing for Orphan Grain Train in NOV 2015.

I continue to see a nurse practitioner, whose responsibility mainly is to monitor my medications. I continue to receive mental health therapy. I've had a left hip replacement, & last MAR I had 3 stents implanted to alleviate an 80% blockage. I've been through cardiac rehab, & I continue cardiac maintenance 3-5 times/week. I continue to write for OGT. I continue to blog.

As I look back on the last 4 years, I realize that leaving Lutheran High was for the best, even if my departure could have & should have been handled better. Writing continues to be good self-therapy for me. If you would have told me 4 years ago that I would be retired by now, I doubt if I would have believed you.

Wit & Wisdom of Cal Thomas

From "30 years of 'global warming' panic,' column in Norfolk Daily News (6/29):  "This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the 'global warming' (now known as 'climate change') panic . . . 

          "The mostly non-scientist proponents of climate hysteria realize that distant forecasts of remote problems by inadequate models are unlikely to motivate people to shut down modern industrial society. They, therefore, attempt to claim that we are seeing the problems right now. Of course, the warming that has occurred over the past 200 years or so has been too small to have been a major factor. However, objective reality matters little when it comes to propaganda--where repetition can effectively counter reality.

          "Repetition is precisely what we are  experiencing in the major media, which have selectively interviewed people who promote the climate change myth. These include some politicians who see it as another way to regulate & dominate our lives . . . 

          "Numerous apocalyptic predictions of an imminent end of the world because of 'climate change' have proved wrong. Their objective of big government robbing us of more of our freedoms & spending trillions of dollars on a made-up problem has been exposed.

          "We can & should recycle & not pollute the atmosphere, water, or land, but not because it will lower the Earth's temperature."

          MY COMMENT:  Christians are charged with the responsibility of being good stewards of creation. We should recycle & not pollute but not because we are trying to save "Mother Earth."

Diversity, Part II

From "Does Diversity Really Unite Us? Citizenship & Immigration," by Edwward Erler, Imprimus, A Publication of Hillsdale College (July-Aug 2018):  "Our progressive politicians & opinion leaders proclaim their commitment to diversity almost daily, chanting the same refrain: 'Diversity is our strength.' This is the gospel according to political correctness. But how does diversity strengthen us? Is it a force for unity & cohesiveness? Or is it a source of division & contention? Does it promote the common good & the friendship that rests at the heart of citizenship? Or does it promote racial & ethnic division & something resembling the tribalism that prevents most of the world from making constitutional government a success? When is the last time we heard anyone in Washington talk about the common good? We are used to hearing talk about the various stakeholders & group interests, but not much about what the nation has in common."