Tuesday 18 July 2017

Strugglers

This morning was our monthly Strugglers meeting at the Quaker Meeting House.   Here about ten of us meet once a month, sit quietly for a while and then discuss whatever happens to come up.   It is a really refreshing hour and a half of  serious discussion.   Well, I say 'serious' but sometimes it is anything but.   However, the topic really doesn't matter; what matters is that the folk involved get something off their mind, are able to sort it out in their mind with other like-minded people and perhaps as a result get worries or troubles into some kind of proportion.

Living alone does often involve bottling up some worry or other until it takes over the whole of one's thinking and often keeps one awake - as mine did the night before last when I really had hardly any sleep at all.   At least last night I slept like the proverbial log.

Lunch out afterwards for two of us (Seafood Platter - Smoked salmon, prawns, smoked mackerel, green salad, mayo and a nice warm brown roll -  afterward we succumbed to a tartlet of cream topped with raspberries, kiwi and the like).  At least I shalln't starve.

 

25 comments:

Mac n' Janet said...

What a great idea. A shared worry is a halved worry.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Always good to get your worries in proportion - and your food in big portions!

Sue in Suffolk said...

Your meals out always sound so much nicer than what I have planned for dinner!

Do all Quaker Meeting houses have this sort of meeting, I'd not heard of it before

Gail, northern California said...

I was a wreck after my husband died. A friend suggested Hospice. Their office had a "Quiet Room". Like your Strugglers, we struggled and started meeting in that quiet room regularly because we discovered no one else understood our sorrow like those who endured the same. At first, we just sat and cried. Even that was a huge relief. Then we started to talk. Unburdened ourselves about the helpless and hopeless feelings. The guilt? Yes, that too.

When those sessions ended at Hospice, a core group had developed, now fast friends. We knew we had formed a valuable network, one where our thoughts are kept confidential, one where we can say anything without reproach. "The other day I was right back at Square One, the grief was overwhelming." is met with a knowing nod.

Keep going, Pat. You never know when you might help someone else. Even finding the best handyman for home maintenance, is a godsend for she who struggles alone.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I am confident that the worry that kept you awake was not to do with lunching - an activity in which you clearly excel.

galant said...

Thinking of you, and hoping that such nights are few and far between. I send you my very best wishes and as Yorkshire Pudding says, you excel in the activity of lunching! Onwards and upwards!
Margaret P

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I'm getting well stuck into the summer fruit - Asda seems to be particularly good for this at the moment, their strawberries are better than the market ones at the moment and I'm going through them like anything at work.

Joanne Noragon said...

"Strugglers" struck such a note this morning. I have struggled against odds these last few months, myself. At physical therapy this morning I noted I could lift 10 pounds with my right leg. "Ten pounds, ten pounds!" I gleefully announced to my therapist. "Why didn't your tell me when I started I could get this good." And she said, "Think about it. We said over and over your injury is a long road back, and you would be able to do this eventually." "No you didn't" said I, and we dissolved in laughter.

Sue said...

Strugglers - what a great concept.

Rachel Phillips said...

I am happy for you to find this group that you like. I don't think it would be for me but who knows.

Terra said...

I like the name of your group, the Strugglers. That name could fit most people, me included. The lunch you had sounds delicious. This fall I will go to a group at our church called Griefshare which I hear is very helpful, like the Strugglers.

Librarian said...

Putting our own worries in perspective is always helpful, I find. Since my husband died, I see most of the petty everyday worries do not bother me anymore. Sometimes when I hear others going on about small stuff, moaning and complaining, I think "Are these all your problems? Lucky you!" And I do indeed consider myself very lucky, in that I have a wonderful life and so much to be grateful for, last but not least a good circle of friends, some close, some less so, but all matter to me and helped in their own way when I most needed them. Now I hope to be as good a friend to them as they are to me.

You must like salmon lots, as it features rather often on your menue :-)

donna baker said...

The strugglers sound like a wonderful group/idea. I have always been a worrier, since earliest memories, but I have told my children nothing will come out of worrying. It is the do as I say, not as I do approach. Sounds like a good lunch was had too. I don't eat lunch as I am not hungry until about 3 in the afternoon. If I were to eat earlier, I dare say I'd probably sleep the rest of the day away. So is tea time after lunch, before supper or is tea time supper? I never knew.

Heather said...

I like the sound of your Strugglers meeting - such a good idea. By discussing gripes and sharing thoughts, a solution to a problem can often be found. Your lunch sounded pretty good too.

Rachel Phillips said...

Depends where you live Donna. Tea time is after lunch and is our evening meal. So in a way tea time is our supper, and it is certainly our dinner. But we have our dinner at midday. For us it is breakfast, dinner, tea and then supper, if we still have it, which is rare these days, but if we do, supper is a cup of cocoa and crackers and cheese and then bed. It would probably all be different in N Yorks, or depending on whether you are a farmer or a teacher as to how you descibe meals.

Hildred said...

What a great idea, - the quietness and sharing with others. Sometimes it is good to share with others who are a little removed from your problems and see things with a new light. I wouldn't mind some Strugglers here in the Similkameen!!!

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

How wonderful to belong to such a group. Talking out problems to friends helps enormously and is cheaper than a psychologist.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Rachel has described our meal times to you Donna so no need for me to do so.

Sue in Suffolk. In answer to your question - I don't know. But the meeting is certainly a great help to all of us who attend.

Si - It seems to have been a marvellous strawberry season - Our Co-ophas had them every day for months - mostly from Scotland - and they are still being delicious each time.

angryparsnip said...

Oh Weaver, your group sounds so wonderful and the meal after was a treat.
I saw a show that had a Quaker Meeting in it and thought that is just what I need.

cheers, parsnip, thehamish and fergus

Cro Magnon said...

I like the sound of your 'Strugglers Club'. At the end of the working day, our gardener and my father used to spend about 30 mins together solving the world's problems over a cup of tea. I called it The Bigots Club; but now find my own opinions are really quite similar.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Oh Cro - yesy, in the end it happens to us all I think.

Jill said...

You've mentioned this before and each time I think how nice it is. I am sure it is appreciated by all of the group that attend.

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of a Quaker meeting house. Time to sit and be still and contemplate and time to talk. Good stuff.

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