I've spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms.
Psychiatrists sometimes get called away urgently and you have to sit and wait for them to come back. I always take a note pad with me. I write down all the things I want to talk about, or I use it to write down anything they say to me.
Appointments can go by in a flash, so it's worth being prepared.
If it's a particularly long wait, I'll sit and scribble. Sometimes I try to write a story or draw funny little pictures.
I think I started my hospital scribbling when I was stuck on a Psychiatric Ward in Darlington. There wasn't much else to do and scribbling was a distraction.
I have a short attention span and I enjoy taking the piss.
I might sit and add the word 'Panic' to any movie or TV show that has 'Attack' in the title. And then I'll imagine what would happen in a film called 'Panic Attack of the 50ft Woman' or a Doctor Who story called 'Panic Attack of the Cybermen'.
What dose of Prozac would a 50ft woman need? Would the Cybermen benefit from more exercise or group therapy sessions?
It helps pass the time and it sometimes makes me laugh. Both of those things are important.
Back when I was a teacher, we'd always do a unit of work on Poetry. It was pretty basic stuff (partly because the kids were only 11, partly because my understanding of poetry is very limited) but it could be a lot of fun. The main thing I wanted to do was get the kids writing, rather than just sitting and listening.
The unit of work always covered different types of poetry and then we'd all try to do our own. We'd do Haiku, limericks, acrostic poems, shape poems... even some cut ups.
The kids would often write stuff that was hilarious. You can learn a lot from kids. It was also a way to get some wall displays put together - I'd get each kid to pick their favourite piece of work and 'copy it up in neat'. And then we'd put them all on the wall.
Sitting in hospital waiting rooms, I've sometimes remembered old schemes of work and tried to write my own little poems.
When I was in a Psychotherapy group, the therapist asked me how I could be so flippant*. He accused me of 'making light' of serious problems and laughing at some of the things I'd been through. I told him it's one of the ways I cope.
I've been through the tears and the hopelessness and the binge-eating - but that's not all there is. I have to take the piss sometimes. It can't all be medication and long waits between appointments.
I suppose this blog is my wall display.
*When
all of the Covid restrictions were announced in March 2020 and everybody had
to stay at home and keep away from other people, my first reaction was
'welcome to my world'.
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