by Benjie de Ubago
I’ve come to realize that community work can indeed be hazardous to our health! It is definitely not for the faint hearted.
Stress causes blood pressure levels to skyrocket and there will be numerous stress-related instances. Sitting for hours at meetings means you’re not getting enough exercise. There’s no end in sight except added inches to your back side.
You’ll wonder if you’ve been to a picnic or a meeting as you munch on gastric delights that may cause intestinal chaos and wrap your heart in cholesterol.
While some may be harmless, it is important to consider the more serious side effects of community involvement.
The raising of your hand to volunteer may be a normal reflex action. It may be a magnanimous gesture on your part but beware that repetitive action may lead to repetitive strain injury (RSI). And if not acknowledged properly and immediately, may lead to more serious ailments such as rheumatism or arthritis.
It could also lead to other involuntary movements which may cause muscular aches and other body pains. Some examples of these are: head lifting and tilting at an angle, higher than eye level may cause stiff neck and shoulder aches; unwarranted nodding or other facial ticks may cause you to think you’ve got tourette’s syndrome; constant torso bending from ‘beso-beso’ may also cause problems with joints, waist and lower parts of the body.
Accepting voluntary work means juggling real work and unpaid community work. This could mean working past waking hours which may lead to insomnia. You wonder whether some are asleep at meetings or they’ve developed sleep walking or sleep apnea.
Then your vision is blurred which could even lead to tunnel vision despite the fact that you had a 20/20 vision to start off with. You start seeing things and you can’t see past arm’s length. In more severe case, some can’t see past their noses. Frustration may even give you the pink eye (or conjunctivitis) with the outpouring of tears.
Next, your sense of hearing goes. You wonder if you heard right? You wonder if that is what they really meant. But as you dare to question, you suddenly realize that everybody is talking one or two octaves higher than usual and you wonder if your auditory senses have been heightened.
When you start to experience sensurround, you in turn talk just as loud which can put undue strain on your vocal chords.
Continue to question for sanity sake, reason till your blue, and your mental health is in real peril.
Egos get bruised, tempers flare and you suddenly realize you’re surrounded by people suffering with attention deficit disorder. In fleeting fits of passion you realize you’re shaking. You see others shaking; people are nodding in unison but not understanding. You may go with the rhythm of the heads even if only to avoid the shakes. Is it Parkinson or are you simply shaking in anger? Just be mindful when you begin to rock. Then you’ll know you’re in the advanced stages.
However, in chronic cases, you may lose perspective and express yourself to aliens posing as friends only to realize much later that they’ve run off with your ideas. You slip into comatose – a state of disbelief, wondering if it ever was yours….or was it an error in judgment on your part.
With further deterioration and frayed nerves, you start second guessing yourself…”hmmm maybe it’s me….maybe it’s the onset of Alzheimer’s ….did I forget…or did they.” Then paranoia sets in when you think you got a response but you really didn’t. Now you’re in real trouble as you get into the ‘who’s talking to whom’ circle. Hallucination or delusion?
We advise caution on approach. Prolonged exposure could have serious damages. Should any of the above-mentioned symptoms persist, please seek medical advice.
As for me, ahhhh, yes, yes, yes! Maybe it’s time to fly for rehab and spend Chinese New Year with friends.