Are bank holidays all they are cracked up to be?

Having just had another bank holiday each of us will have our own view as to how it was for us.  I wonder if you were a “survivor and glad it’s over” type of person or a “great to have some extra time with people or things that I enjoy” one.  A bit like school holidays I suppose for many mums and dads – you either love them or you hate them. On the whole though it probably could be surmised that most of us like bank holidays.  All of us for different reasons.  I suppose how you view it depends purely at what “stage” you are in life.  I always feel that it is a “guilty pleasure” that I can have a day off on a week day!!  (I would like to explain that whilst that may sound terrible, especially from a counsellor,  it’s really ok.  My work life balance is just great but I still revert back to my school days when I pretended to have a stomach ache and was allowed to ‘bunk’ off school) See the power of our pasts!

However, it doesn’t matter how we enjoy it – that fact is that we are in a place in our lives that we can enjoy it.  That is a good place to be.  But for many people of all walks, cultures and ages they don’t feel good about themselves.  Every weekend, every bank holiday and usually every day is a painful experience.  For some it is the slippery slope of addiction that started with a few drinks, drugs or the online bingo.  Just like going down a slide – you start slowly but then you gather momentum, unable to stop, until you fall at the heap at the bottom.

Of it could be that and extra day means that you have to spend more time with your abuser, or plunge deeper into the depths of black depression in your prison of isolation.

For some people life everyday is difficult.  Of course we all have sadness sometimes – life is harsh, life is cruel but life can also be fun and meaningful and most of us can roll with it all – others cannot.  Sometimes it is easier to spot the sadness in someone than in others, but maybe,  just maybe,  if we all really look at our fellow beings and pay close attention we can perhaps help them through the pain of their living.  Just a smile, a chance to talk and be heard, a chance to come back into the swim of life.

When a person is standing at the top of the slide deciding if there life is worth stopping going down the slide or not, a kind word and a good friend can make all the difference.  Once they are halfway down the slide – no amount of kind words or good friends will stop them hitting the bottom.

So here is the challenge to us all –  maybe we can turn the world around – little by little.  That is how waves start – they start little and they grow and grow.  So maybe we can start a wave by caring about and being interdependent with our  those around us.  By spotting the isolation and devastation in people’s lives before it goes too far and trying our best to change their course so that we can all enjoy not only our  bank holidays but our living.