Re: Coronavirus worries?
Originally Posted by
MyNameIsTerry
I agree with a lot of what you say but I'm concerned this thread is also obsessive for some and that's just another form of Googling articles or reading excessive levels of news. If people are hanging out in this thread for extended periods of time they need to be aware they are failing into anxiety traps and negative behaviours.
Fear is built by engaging with it and anxious people do more of this. So we need to get on with other distractions too as you were with the washing and fishman in the garden. Some are saying they are carrying on as much as possible.
A certain amount of reassurance is needed for those worse off but for those in a better place it's self reassurance that is needed and the ability to objectively judge incoming information and react appropriately.
What concerns me also is that this becomes a justification for fear. It's real but so many things are. When we have a terrorist attack we get threads on the GAD board and HAers will not be in them. Those fearing rarely join in on HA threads and other than the odd one haven't appeared in this thread either.
We even have 3 of NMP's repetitive posters either in here, updating their long threads or starting new ones.
If we had started a thread aimed purely at anti anxiety steps I wonder how many pages it would have amassed?
Don't get me wrong, this thread is doing positive things too and some people are too severe to being to cope without engaging in negative behaviours regardless of the issue hence need more support and reassurance, but I feel it is more an update news thread than anything. I just wonder sometimes whether we are missing some things although being on Misc we tend to have more general debate.
I agree Terry, so I'm going to post about gardening and its beneficial influence on HA/GAD/depression.
Today was a beautiful early spring day and provided a welcome break from the doom found in the media. Last autumn I cleared a lot of dead bramble from the bottom of the garden. Not all of it, as bramble is a valuable ecosystem species that has pollen for bees and blackberries for birds come autumn. I planted up the free space with bulbs. Snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils and snakeshead fritillaries. Snowdrops have gone over now but crocuses/daffs are in full bloom.
The primroses are looking great and I've always preferred the true wild ones that typically have the pale pastel yellow flowers. While some people are fond of the hybrid primulas I find them a bit garish. Primroses are grown fairly easily from seed but it needs to be fresh. In fact I grow most of my plants from seed as I find it hugely satisfying to sow that embryo in a tray of compost, carefully nurture it until you see the break in the surface and new life thrusting into the light. There is a feeling among some that aspects of gardening are somehow complex or elitist, but anyone can grow plants from seed. Admittedly some seeds germinate more readily than others. Annuals are particularly accommodating in that they germinate very quickly as they have to grow, flower and set seed all in one year. They then die. Examples of annual plants are blue cornflower, wild poppy and nasturtium.
Biennials spend the first year growing, overwinter and then flower, set seed and die the following year. Foxgloves are biennial, as are wallflowers and Honesty.
Perennials are slower to germinate from seed in general as they play the longer game, taking longer to reach maturity but living for a good few years. Some perennials are lupins, delphiniums and aquilegias. These are low maintenance plants as they can be left to come up every spring.
I'll have to leave it there for now because our border terrier is being sick.
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