Smoke + Summer Sadness
Beautiful British Columbia is on fire….again. For anyone who has lived in the Interior for the past 20 years, this is fairly triggering of the many wildfires that have previously destroyed towns, homes, landscape and lives. Judging by that screenshot, I’m just as sad as you are about the sustained smoke-filled summer days we’ve been having. In my counselling sessions the fires, evacuations, and smoke have regularly been a topic of conversation to process.
Things about the wildfire season that are triggering are:
-smoke - it impacts our vision, our physical health and is often associated with the first warning sign there is fire which alerts our central nervous system (fight or flight response). Essentially we have trained our whole lives to notice this one.
-isolation - having to isolate due to smoke, not travel places, etc is extra impactful running on the tail end of Covid restrictions
-fear of unknown and things being out of our control - we don’t exactly know how far the fires are, where the smoke is coming from as we are surrounded in all directions (my hometown Kamloops is at least).
-airplanes and helicopters - in Kamloops we had a military jet crash into a residential neighbourhood beside the airport and the sound of the planes and helicopters can be very triggering to those who hear them regularly.
If you’re feeling like you’re :
•more anxious
•more irritable
•more depressed
•suffering from headaches and brain fog
•grieving losses
•uneasy, unsure and unsafe
…. You’re not alone.
Many people have been coming to me this month working through previous triggers of 2003, 2017 and other fires as well as the prolonged stress state and isolation from Covid that rolled right into the fire season.
Try to break up your stress wherever you can.
•if you see blue sky, steal 15 minutes of time in it. Don’t wait for the next time because we don’t know when it’s coming.
•sneak out of town or to other areas (safely) so you can catch breaks from the smoke and see new scenery- reset your nervous system
•experience joy anywhere you can - this is so important to reduce and process stress. Much of our joy has been suffocated by this smoke (pun intended)
•check out my reel of beautiful BC scenery and know that unlike the pandemic timeline, this will actually break by the fall.
•replace your furnace/AC air filters often!! This can improve headache effects
•diffuse peppermint oil or other stronger scents that add uplifting moods
•reach out for formal support support if you need to. This is entirely justified
For a link to the local news coverage segment I was a part of, click here:
https://cfjctoday.com/2021/07/27/counsellor-smoke-and-haze-causing-summertime-sadness/
This too will pass but not without some grief and struggle. Be well and be safe friends.