I have always liked the following quote found in a poem called Desiderata by Max Ehrmann that was published in 1927.
“You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
So, sometimes it is important not to sweat the small stuff but to look at the bigger picture. We are children of this planet we call earth and children of the solar system, the galaxy, and the whole blooming universe. That is rather impressive. It is also a little scary and humbling at the same time. But I do find it does help to put things into perspective. We are also all members of the same species and if you trace your ancestry back far enough, we are all related. Something which is worth remembering. So, like it or not, we are all in this together.
January the 27th was “Let’s Talk Day”, a day to reflect on everyone’s mental health. People are social creatures and talking is an important part of social interaction. In other words, people like to talk, sometimes a lot and it is an aspect of their mental health. So, all the isolation going on has affected people’s mental health. These are indeed trying times and we should all try to make things better.
Governments, organizations, and businesses often put procedures in place which affect people’s mental well-being and they fail to realize this or take it into account. An example would be when you make a phone call and are put on hold for an extended period. It is frustrating. So, we need a rule that either the company hires more people to answer the calls or after you are on hold for let’s say minutes, they take your number and call you back. And there should be a time limit for the call back. This would make the experience better, in my opinion.
The government and a number of businesses also use automatic phone systems that seldom work well, it really should be illegal to use them unless they work properly. An example of this would be the GNWT 8-1-1 Covid line. It was a good idea to have it but it was poorly executed. I was out of the territories for a couple of days last year on medical travel. When I returned to the territory, I was told to phone the 8-1-1 number and check in using it. This turned into a rather frustrating experience.
First off, it starts with a long, drawn-out pre-recorded message in two official languages. They could have made it much simpler by just saying “Covid hot line. English press one, Français deux and other three.” Except of course the GNWT doesn’t provide an option three for its residents that don’t speak English or French. Which I am sure is a mental health frustration for them.
Then I was given a bunch of options with the automated system, some which went in loops and got me nowhere. After several attempts at navigating this very confusing system I finally got to talk to a human being; and I check in, as I was asked to do. I did point out it was a rather flawed system. But here we are a year later, and people are still complaining about it on social media.
These things may seem petty, but they add to one’s frustration levels and this affects one’s mental health. I put it down as an example of what not to do, but there should be a rating system for these things so they can be improved because our society is getting frustrated.
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should, but we have to get a whole lot better at learning from past mistakes and figuring out ways to improve things. Hopefully we, the politicians and the bureaucrats will.
On the bright side we are gaining two to three minutes of daylight every day.