NET MIRTH IN A TIME OF DEARTH A Humorist’s Advice for Mental Health Month
A UClub Member since the 1980s, Michele Jackman spreads humor and cheer whenever she stops by the Club. Michele recently came to pick up a UClub To-Go food order (see page 16) and spoke with UClub GM Sarah Rudd in the UClub parking lot (from a safe distance). They couldn’t help but note the irony of this month, so fraught with uncertainty, stress, and mental, emotional, and physical isolation, being Mental Health Outreach Month. Mental Health Month was started way back in 1949, when our nation was getting back to work after WWII and facing all new ways of working and coping with change, much as we are having to slowly do now. To help all of us find a bit of optimism in these difficult times, Michele offers the following advice: MENTAL HEALTH OUTREACH MONTH was started in 1949. It is ironic that we are essentially experiencing community life with wartime limitations right now. There is no actual war here of course, but what we are experiencing can be just as unsettling. Our day-to-day is currently filled with many post-WWII-like challenges: the rationing of food stuffs and basic supplies like toilet paper; unavailable medical appointments; the loss of nurturing moments like a haircut; and the constraints on all our rituals and nurturing habits like meeting friends at Bistro dinners, lunches at the Club, attending events, and more. This COVID-19 warlike experience is straining all our thinking and emotional and mental capacities. We think we know earthquakes, horrible fires, and other disasters. A long- lasting pandemic is not in most people’s planning. Unlike those other disasters, we are experiencing a “grinding halt” similar to how the 1925 Earthquake impacted people and businesses. We recovered then, and we need to now. THIS IS A TIME TO CONSIDER ONE’S “MENTAL WEALTH”. By that I mean all of the resources we have – all of our financial, personal, social, and spiritual resources which can help us cope with any moments of doom, gloom, or depression we may face. This includes, for example, finding ways to continue to interact with other UClub members and UClub staff. As we all know, there are only so many projects one can do after 6+ weeks of a “grinding halt,” and the longer we go without tapping into our mental WEALTH, the more dangerous it becomes for our mental HEALTH. As one very mature, talented person expressed with frustration, “All my models and strategies for coping that worked in the past for me don’t seem to be working.” We need to learn new strategies, adapted to these warlike times. My first career was in mental health. My second career is in developing healthier workplaces and workforces where creativity and innovation are needed as ongoing routine. In that capacity, I taught Organizational Psychology and offered Extension courses for several years. These topics are relevant now as workforces require new and different models to help boost the productivity and health of workers. For many of our members, the future means ensuring that it is increasingly safer to meet and eat in person again and also learning virtual tools like Zoom and Podcasts so that we can enjoy new kinds of fun events like a virtual cocktail party or online Book Club meeting.
12 THE 1919 MAGAZINE | MAY 2020
