I really like the idea of going down to West Virginia and spending the majority of my week in the Blackwater Falls – Canaan Heights area. But it’s such a long trip, and it’s one that puts a lot of wear and tear on my big jacked up — and now old truck that turns 12 next week. How fast time goes! I know this trip is always the ultimate in stress test for my truck, with the long drives, the high speed, the hairpin turns, the hills.
My truck seems to be running well, but it’s been through 12 years of rough dirt roads and salt seasons. I’ll check the fluids and make sure there is no new noise or behaviors noticed over the coming weeks. I could jack it up and check for play in any of the suspension components, but I’ve not noticed any unusual behavior. I guess I could take it to my mechanic for an inspection but without much direction I don’t think it will be a help. But at the same time, I don’t want to spend a fortune replacing every component that is worn or kind of beat but will survive the trip.
I realize I continue to wage the last war in my mind. It’s no longer 2021 when I had issues that November, I have replaced both hubs and wheel bearings on the front of Big Red, and the lower ball joints and control arms at least one one side if not both have been replaced. It’s a longer trip then I can probably limp home, but worse comes to worse, I can stay in a hotel or rent a car for a few days. I’ll have my tent and bicycle with me that offers options. And I can’t live my life constantly in fear. I am on vacation to enjoy myself, not feed my anxiety.
Obviously, breaking down a long ways from home, having to rent a car or stay in a hotel is an expense. But it can be a new adventure should the worse-comes-to-worse, and it’s not like I will struggle for money, as in an emergency I can always tap various sources of money I have in various accounts, to say nothing about my credit cards. And it’s silly to get too worried about it, the last two times I broke down — one was stupid loose lug nut on summer vacation, the other the wheel bearing — I was able to get my truck fixed the same day and be back on the road a few hundred bucks less.
I should take the trip I want and not worry about feeding the anxiety machine, but instead sit back and enjoy life. And make sure I maintain a nutritious diet throughout my trip, so I can have a good healthy blood sugar, drive safely, make it to my destination, and relax at camp and all the fun things I do hiking and exploring on my mountain bike. Anxiety shouldn’t be paralyzing or keep me from living the life I want to live.
I was listening to the BBC News last night and they were discussing the pandemic and it’s impact on suicides across the globe. The conclusion that the depressive nature of pandemic actually caused a reduction of suicides globally, because depressed people lack the energy to kill themselves. And they had then offered the standard boilerplate language about how help is available for anybody with thoughts of self-injury.
However, after the September 11th attacks, I can’t remember a single news report suggesting that mental health services are available, before hijacking an airplane, blowing up a building or killing people. I also can’t think of a crime story, be a murder or shooting, where they suggest to anyone thinking of engaging in murder or terrorism think again — that there are alternatives and that there are people out there willing to listen.
Why don’t they suggest that murders and terrorists step back and think about their actions before committing crime? It is is denialism upon the news media that we are no different from the terrorists, murders and criminals? Is it a belief that suicidal people are like ourselves while criminals are different? I think it would be good if news media would remind perspective terrorists and murders that there is alternative for their lives — to step back from the ledge and look forward to how they could improve their own lives and the world too.
You know your in an affluent neighborhood in Elsmere when there is a cluster of psychologists and psychiatrists along one street.
They probably counsel people about their angry thoughts towards Donald Trump and towards those who don’t eat organic kale.
Sixteen years ago, when Calliope Holingue was in high school, she had a problem. Two, actually. She developed gastrointestinal symptoms severe enough to force her to give up running, plus she had a long history of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"And I wondered if maybe there was a link between my mental health and the GI symptoms I was experiencing," she recalls now.
Her doctors shrugged off her questions. "That led me to start reading a lot about the gut microbiome, the autonomic nervous system, and their connection with the brain and mental health," she says.
Today, Holingue has joined the ranks of scientists seeking to understand the interplay between the brain (and the rest of the nervous system) and the gut microbiome – that is the vast array of organisms, including bacteria, fungi and viruses, that thrive in the human gut.