Take a moment to sit back and breathe

It gets said too often, I know, but the world is a crazy place right now. Then again, I haven’t actually been around for too long, so maybe it always has been. We’re overloaded with information, time-poor and everyone seems to be in a heightened state of tension — constantly ready to take on anyone we don’t agree with. In this week’s Harvey-Waroona Reporter I’ve written two stories which stand out to me — one about Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault Football Club encouraging its members to get vaccinated against COVID-19; and another about a campaign promoting mindfulness during October. While the stories are seemingly unrelated, to me they go hand in hand, and here’s why. Some people will disagree with HBL’s jab push but to those people — and in fact every other person — I suggest turning to page 8 and reading about mindfulness. Maybe even do a bit of research and give it a try. For the past 18 months there hasn’t been a lot else to talk about other than COVID. But after a while of hearing health experts and news anchors tell us facts about a virus which not many of the people around here have caught, it feels like Groundhog Day. We have heard case numbers, people telling us to wear a mask or wash our hands, and for a lot of us it has become so draining. Rather than going on Facebook and reading people’s opinions or angry comments — and making some of your own — why not just breathe? Go and lie on the grass, or by the beach, or sit on a bench, or stand on a hill, and just exist. Feel the wind in your hair, the sun on your back, listen to the birds or the waves crashing, and just turn it all off for a minute. Regardless of whether the world is a crazy place right now or it always has been, it’s the only one we have. Let’s all take a step back and relax. It might even help us see eye to eye.