I want to say that the aftershocks have died down but I'm afraid that I'll have to eat my words. What I will say is that they appear less frequent nowadays, unlike the first month afterward, where your nerves were precarious and you were just waiting for the next one.
There has been another tragedy that has emphasized how fortunate we were to not suffer major casualties- the Pike River mining disaster. 29 men lost their lives in an explosion last week, and the explosions are still continuing, hampering recovery efforts. I'm not entirely sure how much more stress and tragedy the South Island can take, but we are a resilient people, and when the rest of NZ had our backs during the aftermath of the quake, we join with the rest of NZ to do what we can for the people of Greymouth and the families of the miners.
It definitely makes you appreciate things- your family, your health, your friends. It's been hard for me to appreciate those things because of the depressive episode I have been suffering from recently due to the PTSD. At first I felt ashamed that I had to take time off of work because of it, but then I realised that I hadn't actually really paused at all this year. I hadn't taken any real time out from a very stressful year of many changes. I graduated early halfway through the year and within six weeks I was into a new job, and then the quake hit. I guess this was my body and mind saying; "you need to stop and rest." I do feel better, though, thanks to the help of my doctor and the aforementioned rest.
I have decided to use the quake as a measure of time. There is the pre-quake life I lived, which was okay but was only just starting to become full of potential, and there is my post-quake life, which I believe to be full of possibilities. A seismic shift in attitude, if you will.
No comments:
Post a Comment