The Post Election Bends

I ought to be on top of the world, but part of me just doesn’t feel it. However, surrounding this shadow is a universe of joy, thanks, relief, euphoria and optimism. Now I realize that in recent years I normally have only had modest energy. Most days it is OK, but occasionally I just drag along. But what I am currently experiencing is different. When I asked my physician about this loss of my traditional zip he said, “I’ll give you 90 reasons—one for every year.”Or perhaps it is just a depletion of testosterone. So what is behind this physical and emotional shadow? I doubt if I am the only one dealing with this issue.

I digress. Some years ago I was in a physician’s waiting room. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring with me my handy Kindle reader, so I was reduced to perusing the five year old magazines one often finds in such places. Among them I came across a magazine dedicated to water sports that included an article about the dangers of deep sea diving. It described the dangers when divers descend too far too quickly.

Another account detailed what happens when a diver is too quickly pulled to the surface. This painful and often fatal condition, called “the bends,” results when gas bubbles form in the blood. To avoid this problem, professional divers are confined in decompression chambers, some time for hours.

Aha! Could it be I have been suffering from a case of the political bends? My brain has been deep in the political ocean for so long that with the election finally determining the end of the contest, coming suddenly to the surface has caused physical and emotional air bubbles.

To add to the problem, when I looked around the surface, I saw what appeared to be a somber almost empty seascape now dominated by the silent circling fins of a deadly virus. A few days ago a friend of mine asked me to bring my calendar to a meeting, and when I looked at what I had planned for the coming months, the pages were blank!

I need to decompress from this consuming political contest. That will come over
the next few days. In the meantime I need to resist diving back into the political ocean. Beside that, I doubt if anyone really might want to read anything I might write about the campaign or the election.
So I will slowly decompress until my usual robust spirit returns.