Hey, amigos:

Last week's Day 136 Meme was about putting self care before the care of others.  As I said in my reply that day it  reminded me that of what flight attendants always say in their safety demonstration before take off.  They always advise that in case of a loss of cabin pressure you put your own mask on before helping anyone else with theirs.  I recalled that I found that out for myself at Chicago's Midway airport a couple of years ago when pilot error made the plane I was on miss the runway in a crash landing.

Recalling that drove the point home that I should heed the Day 136 Meme's self care advice here.  The pandemic has increased stress for us all lately, and no less so for me.  I'm feeling it particularly this week as August approaches and Fall classes at my community college are set to begin again.  Because of having been hospitalized this past February, I've been granted permission to teach all of classes online.  However, the special preparations for that have to be made to convert my classes from face to face to online instruction.

In the interest of that self care, it will help for me to take a week off from DS PTSD to get that done as August begins at this week's end.  No one is indispensable here, we're a peer support group and therefore not so dependent on any leader that we can't carry on ourselves.  I'm proud to be this site's Community Leader, but even CLs need some time off from volunteering, especially if attention is needed at their other paying job.  I hope to retire after this year, and then I'll be able to devote undivided time to DS with less stress.  Until then, please be patient with me as I back away for a break for a few days until August 1st.

Take good care of each other.  I'll miss you this week so I hope to see you again in a few days.

Muji