I find it very odd how my concept of the passing time can differ so greatly. On the one hand, I really feel as if the WEEKS are going by quickly. Monday-Sunday seems to fly right by. But when I look at the calender, the total time spent here seems to stand still.
As I sit here tonight, listening to gunfire and eating a brownie I wonder if this is what it feels like to live in East L.A.? I hate the gunfire. I haven't gotten used to it. It makes me jump. I can tell it is not intended for us (right now), but I never know when that might change. It takes a toll to be stressed this regularly. I can feel it.
I am sure that my stress is no worse than anyone else's stress. The world today is a stressful place. You never know if you are going to lose your job (and subsequently your income/livelihood), and that is EXTREMELY stressful. Especially if you have a family. People have lost their life savings in the market during this recession and THAT is stressful too. What if they are 60 years old and lost it all? Not like they can go back to work and start over for the next 40 years to make up for it. Those are life-affecting stresses too.
I guess what I am trying to say is that although stress comes in different forms, when you feel it day after day it takes a toll no matter what kind of stress it is. I am looking forward to going home and transitioning from this environment back to my not-so-stressful one. I am also hoping that the time spent here as a whole catches up to the quick pace of the time spent week-to-week.
2 comments:
Oh my. The flashbacks your post gave me are overwhelming. For us in Iraq it was daily mortar fire and the overhead speakers screaming, "Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!" It's amazing what you can get used to, but I totally agree about the stress.
Keep your head down.
-Chuck
Chuck, today I was out at the Embassy and out of nowhere there was this HUGE clap of thunder. Thought...I...was...going...to...die.
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