Láyla Messner

Hi, I'm Layla and I have a master's degree in trauma and have mentored fellow survivors towards post-traumatic growth. I studied depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and I have personally experienced disabling anxiety and panic attacks. If you are having mask-related panic, I'm happy to share some tools and resources (100% FREE). Just shoot me a message, and I'll hook you up.

There is an idea going around and I have no idea where it comes from but it has been gaining a shocking amount of ground in Alberta recently, that democracy = d...oing whatever you want without regard to the impact of your actions. And that anything less than this imaginary perfect freedom = totalitarianism. I say imaginary because no such perfect freedom exists. The fact is, we are none of us free to do whatever we want and we never have been and never will be - because our actions impact other people. Democracy has always accepted this fact; ergo we have laws. For example, driving laws and laws that limit when and how one may discharge a firearm, and so on. This is why, long before covid, if you arrived at a medical clinic with respiratory symptoms, you would we required to wear a mask. The idea that democracy = perfect freedom is an illusion. In democratic nations, leaders elect have always been endowed with the power to make unilateral decisions in times of crisis, when a democratic decision-making process would take too much time. These are powers that the leaders of Canada have resisted and refused to enact during covid. It is in part Premier Jason Kenney’s unwillingness to use the powers at his disposal that has led to the rise of covid cases that Alberta now faces. Meanwhile, public denial and resistance to inconvenience are another major contributing factor. As thinking citizens of a democratic nation, our leaders should not have to force us to do what’s right to protect public health, but legal restrictions have become necessary in many places. In New Mexico right now, doctors are being prepared to begin triaging patients: deciding who will live and who will die. They are facing the horrific situation where they will only be able to give care to those most likely to survive, and leave the others to die. [1 see below for source] Let’s make this very specific and personal for a moment I have a preexisting medical condition, and so even though I enjoy a good life at 39 years old, I am one of those who would be left to die. Do I deserve to live less because I have a pre-existing condition? Is my life inherently worth less? Can we be absolutely certain that someone with a pre-existing condition will contribute less to the world than someone without one (if that were the measure we were using for our judgment)? Was Stephen Hawking’s life worth less because he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? Of course none of us can make these judgments and these are decisions no doctor wants to have to make either, but these are the choices that doctors in Italy faced during the first few months of the pandemic. They are the decisions New Mexico doctors are being prepared to face, and the choices Alberta doctors could soon be facing, unless we take collective action to get transmission rates under control. So what’s getting in the way? ‘There’s a need for instant gratification,’ [Rohini McKee, University of New Mexico Hospital’s chief quality and safety officer] said. ‘We’re not used to delaying gratification.’ But that lack of constraint is having deadly consequences. [1] Putting instant gratification over public health I.e. over other people’s lives seems immature but in reality it is less about immaturity and more about denial. Denial is a very common response to trauma. Trauma such as a worldwide pandemic brings us face to face with our own vulnerability and lack of control. Facing these realities can be not only uncomfortable, but also overwhelming and itself traumatic. Having written my master thesis in the area of trauma, I believe that the split in public opinion we’re currently seeing in Alberta is a function of this natural denial mechanism. It is a psychological self-protection strategy. It is psychologically more manageable for many people to be in denial of the pandemic than to face the uncomfortable and overwhelming emotions brought on by vulnerability and a lack of control. It is easier to be angry at politicians for the discomfort of our changed routines and disillusionment of realizing we’re not in control, than to feel impotent anger at a virus. After all, a virus doesn’t care if we’re angry. It can psychologically more comfortable to be angry than to be scared, also. It is essential that we support each other to process our uncomfortable emotions. It is essential that we understand the mechanism of denial in others and in ourselves. And it is essential that we obey public health measures so that Alberta can make it through with minimal loss of life until there is a widely available vaccine. Whether or not to take the vaccine to protect one’s own health is a personal choice. Following public health measures that protect the vulnerable is a collective responsibility one that is embedded in the underlying philosophy of democracy. Inconvenience is not oppression. (If you disagree, there’s no need to comment; you can simply unfollow. I wish you a long, healthy life, either way.) Sources: 1. The Washington Post , Dec 5, 2020 (https://www.google.com//3d06e2d2-3675-11eb-b59c-adb7153d10) I'm not sure of the origin of the quote on the picture; I've seen it all over the internet. If anyone knows the original source, please let me know.

Black Friday sale: All prints are 25% OFF, today only, at https://LaylaMessner.art P.s. You're looking at the most popular painting in the "Her Little Pocket of Happy" art show! "Sleeping Maiden Silhouette, Pt 2" (If you're in Canmore, you know what mountain this is!)