Good news, bad news — it’s a cycle on perpetual repeat in this profession, and on this planet. With COVID cases plunging, long-term care gets “walloped” by the threat of increased staffing requirements and penalties. Mask requirements disappear just in time for us to enjoy the approach of World War III with all our senses unobstructed.
In the middle of another mindless Instagram scroll, an image and headline from the esteemed fake news publication The Onion stopped my thumb. “Oxygen Masks Drop from Nation’s Ceilings After Earth Hits Rough Patch in Orbit.” The photo showed a woman sitting in her living room, looking worriedly out the window, as the mask dangled ominously in the foreground.
It reminded me that the good news/bad news nature of our existence shouldn’t be so surprising, since we’re really just a colony of insignificant, fragile organisms living on a rock hurtling through infinite space, clinging for dear life like the hidden civilization in Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who.” David Letterman often used the phrase, “Hang onto your wigs and keys,” and since we’re likely to continue encountering unexpected turbulence, that’s good advice.
As Oprah and I are basically twins, I’m delighted to report that we both have the same book always at the ready on our nightstands, Michael Singer’s “The Untethered Soul.”
“The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it,” he writes. “In the end, enjoying life’s experiences is the only rational thing to do. You gain nothing by being bothered… It doesn’t change the world; you just suffer.”
“Knowing you are alive is feeling the planet buck under you — rear, kick and try to throw you — while you hang on to the ring,” concurs Annie Dillard in her essay collection, “The Abundance.” “It is riding the planet like a log downstream, whooping.”
Whether we’re unduly regulated or not, or annihilated or not, the fact remains that our mission is still intact and our work remains critical. From therapy gyms to resident rooms, across every care setting and condition, our frail and vulnerable seniors continue to deserve everything we have to give, and to make every effort worthwhile.
So despite all the good news and bad news, let’s continue making the only choice there is — to wait bravely for the next inevitable wallop, and keep remembering why we’re here.
Things I Think is written by Gary Tetz, a two-time national Silver Medalist and three-time regional Gold and Silver Medal winner in the Association of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) awards program, as well as an Award of Excellence honoree in the APEX Awards. He’s been amusing, inspiring, informing and sometimes befuddling long-term care readers worldwide since the end of a previous century. He is a writer and video producer for Consonus Healthcare Services in Portland, OR.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
