OPINION
Something Has To Br eak
Reaching the end of your rope is often the only way things can get better By Jumol Royes
What if falling apart wasn’t a bad thing? I reached a personal breaking point recently when I started experiencing some pretty scary symptoms similar to those associated with the coronavirus. Upon my doctor’s advice, I went to a local assessment centre, got tested, and waited anxiously for a couple of days to get the results. They came back negative,
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020
thankfully; my doctor chalked it all up to stress and some other flu-like bug, and ordered me to rest, relax and reset. But I knew intuitively there had to be more to it than that. Life has been overwhelming lately, and from talking to friends and colleagues and watching the news, I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. On top of dealing with the pandemic and periods of social isolation, I’ve been processing some intense emotions as a gay Black man bearing witness to countless instances of bigotry and brutality both here at home and around the world. I also have two senior citizen parents who need constant support and 16
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