Highs and Lows. Lows and Highs.
There's no doubt about it, 2020 has been one hell of a year in more ways than we would ever have expected. No matter what your personal thoughts are about the '19', we have all been experiencing the effects in different ways. There have been pivotal moments for all of us, and it's not until you look back, you remember the highs and the lows. So much has happened in just one year, and it's not quite over yet. We've had a massive comic shift coinciding with the solstice, taking us into The Age of Aquarius, a Christmas with a tier system and Brexit negotiations going to the right to the wire.Things are changing.
Worlds are being turned upside down
Everyone is so different
One thing I have really noticed through this past year, is how very different people are. Our thoughts, our beliefs and our connection with each other. How friends have moved closer, or further away - in energetic connection, not in the physical plane. As I've moved through the year I've seen how so many people have embraced the tech. Connecting with friends and work through zoom, while others learnt how to do online grocery shopping for the first time. For me, there was a lot of noise on the internet. Everyone was doing on line studying or searching for courses.
The high point.
In the early days I panicked, like a lot of others, but this gave way to deep creativity and and the launch of the Pause Exhibition. It just seemed so right, and I emerged with a new focus, and a whole collection of work created while the world stood still. I was able to really call myself an artist 'with a background in holistic therapies.' The artist now comes first! This was my high point!
The exhibition that could only run for three days due to the closure of the venue, but it was one of the most successful and emotional things I have ever done. The energy in the room during the preview night was so powerful, and the lead piece 'Woman, created quite a stir - and was sold! There are now limited edition prints available on the website.
It took me a while to realise the hidden power behind this collection of work - it was all leading up to the cosmic alignment and the dawning of The Age of Aquarius, transitioning into The Alchemy Collection.
This wasn't a conscious thinking plan, it just unfolded, and that made me even more aware of the power behind Energy Art.
My Lowest Point?
Well, this was a very personal moment. You'd think it may have been when I thought I would lose all I had built up in the last 30+ years, or when hairdressers and osteopaths were allowed to be open, but massage therapists were still closed, and I lost half of my client base.
No. I got through that stage with feelings of anger, frustration and sadness, but it wasn't my lowest point. That came when my autistic, schizophrenic brother had a complete melt down.
For those who don't know, I spent a long time about five years ago finding him a lovely safe place to live, after a mental health 'section' and so much red tape I thought I was never going to win. With the the help of some amazing friends and contacts - you know who you are! - He now lives in a flat with care from Mencap, and has been on a monthly medication for a few years now, to stop the voices in his head.
All good, until there's a national lockdown, he's stuck in a tiny flat, and he wanted to stop his meds. A time when you can't get an appointment to see a psychiatrist, and everything is done on zoom. He doesn't know how to use a computer and hasn't got a smart phone.
While we were finally unlocked, he was then re-locked, due to two staff having positive tests. Another four weeks alone and although he was now taking an oral medication, he quickly decided he didn't want to take that either. Over about five weeks, he started a deep cycle of paranoia, telling me he couldn't talk on the phone because it was bugged and he had conflicts with the devil.
I took food parcels every week and met him outside while he had a smoke. He started to look terrible. He was agitated, very thin and twitchy. Then one day I put him in the car and just drove. I drove to give him a change of scenery and chance to chat.
Then it Happened.
We were stopped in Dunelm carpark, and he burst into tears. Proper red faced and snotty. Sobbing and shaking. He said no one knew what it was like living in his head, and it wasn't right. That was it. THAT was the point. Handing him tissues and telling him that he was right.
It took a lot of emails, team work, and several very frustrating zoom calls with the psychiatrist he trusts, to get him to take a different oral medication. The difference is incredible.
I have my brother back and he was with us on Christmas Day.
Finishing on a BIG High.
To complete the year on a high, we’d finished our very late Christmas lunch main course, and Bobby needed a walk. I said I’d pop out round the field for ten minutes, while the others cleared the table.
Adam said, ‘You and me go together?’
THAT. That was the BEST bit of the day.
Firstly because he hasn’t walked anywhere except to the corner shop since March. Secondly, because he was going out in the dark, with a torch, round a field he didn’t know, and thirdly because he climbed over a five bar gate!
While we were walking he said, ‘Look! There’s the moon!’
We all see the moon every night. He doesn’t because he lives in a tiny flat and rarely looks outside when it’s dark, let alone looks UP.
Think about the smallest things we all take for granted. The things that occur everyday that are just so normal.
He was SO happy!
And so am I.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you ALL.
