RANDOM THOUGHT - Darkness vs. Evil

It's the day after Christmas and I should probably be thinking on the year behind for lessons learned and contemplating the year ahead for goals to strive towards.  In a little way, maybe I am.  I've been reflecting on a tweet that I saw not long ago.  A Christian tweeted about defeating darkness, and he equated darkness with evil.  It's hard to explain, but my first thought was, "how childish."  I replied to his tweet with a question, but he never got back to me.  I won't describe what I think of an ego that can't engage with a conflicting point of view.  Maybe the Christian tweeter just never saw my reply.

In my mind, darkness is not a force to be crushed or defeated.  How do you even go about eradicating shadows?  I imagine one would have to position light fixtures from every conceivable angle and never turn them off.  But in an artist's mind, rendering a subject with 100% light would flatten the image and make it cartoonish.  Rendering shadow gives an object dimensionality, and that is the stuff of life.  Artists must make friends with shadows or their art loses credibility.  In real life, we don't turn off the light switch and turn on the shadow switch.  Darkness is no more than the absence of light; it has no real existence of its own.  It's just a default setting.

We don't live on an artist's canvas.  In real life, we must navigate in daylight as well as in shadow.  The earth will not stop spinning, so night time will always come - literally and emotionally.

There is a difference between darkness and evil.  Darkness is inevitable and, as we tell children at bedtime, there's nothing to be afraid of.  Evil, on the other hand, thrives on our fears and hides in the convenience of darkness.  It's not the darkness itself that we can eliminate and we really have no reason to want to.  It's the menacing evil when we magnify our fear that causes problems.

I've written a post or two about overcoming fear, so I'll leave it at that.

I would, however, like to draw the reader's attention to a best-selling book that has been around for several years and will always hold a special place in my heart: Women Who Run with the Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés.  Estés describes and explains the power of various cultural myths like a wise sage instructing young ladies on the verge of adulthood.  Many of the myths concern sacred traditions of maturing that require learning from uncivilized sources.  These uncivilized sources may be considered "dark" or "witchy".

My contention is that darkness is a fact of life and the strange creatures that dwell in the dark can be fantastic instructors.  Dark creatures are also God's creatures, so let them serve their purpose. There's nothing to be afraid of.


Merry Christmas, Happy 2019!  Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie

#WomenWhoRunWiththeWolves
#overcomefear

GUEST POST - 8 Tips to Avoid a Full-Blown Holiday Meltdown by Live Well Mentally

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Brandy Higgins as a guest blogger.  She is offering fantastic advice for anyone with or without mental illness to survive HOLIDAY STRESS!!!

8 TIPS TO AVOID A FULL-BLOWN HOLIDAY MELTDOWN

I have mental illnesses but I am also an introvert. Being in large groups of people or  around strangers is very emotionally draining for me. I need to have a plan when I go to holiday events for many reasons, including being introverted, trauma, and mental illness symptoms.

I have had some very difficult holiday events in the past to survive. My husband and I often pushed several holiday dinners into one day so as not to let anyone down.. By the end I would lose it with my family.

One time I had a holiday dinner with my abuser, my father, and his extended family. It was extremely difficult. I had high anxiety going to the event and during it. I had flashbacks and dissociated during much of it. I did not have a plan and it was a miserable experience.

I often made the mistake of pretending I was fine when actually I was a mess. I would push myself too far.  Here are some tips to avoid a full-blown holiday meltdown during or after a challenging holiday event

Tips To Get Through A Difficult Holiday Event

• Know your limits. If this holiday event is to much for you, stick up for yourself. Pleasing others is not worth risking your mental health.
• Don't go it alone. Go with someone supportive.
• Take short breaks in the bathroom or outside.
• Imagine yourself in a safe place.
• Do not pretend to be ok. Give yourself permission to NOT be ok.
• Stay away from alcohol. It will be difficult for you to manage your mental illness symptoms if you are drunk.
• Have a code word. Agree in advance with your support person to leave if their code word is used.
• Don't apologise for yourself. You have done nothing wrong by taking care of your mental health.

I really hope these tips help you through the challenges of the holidays. I pretty much live by them. What tips do you have for surviving holiday events? Happy Holidays everyone. Leave questions, comments, suggestions below.

BRANDY'S BIO: Brandy Higgins, RN, BSN is the writer of Live Mentally Well-Better Living Thru Mental Wellness. https://livementallywell.com.  Lifelong Mental Health Survivor. Live Mentally Well is impacting our community and the world by inspiring mental wellness one person at a time.  She writes about Mood disorders, Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Postpartum Bipolar Disorder, Christian Mental Health, Anxiety Disorders, Childhood Trauma, PTSD, and Dissociative Disorders.  Share my knowledge and come along with me on my recovery journey.