A Cure to Home Sickness…
Well, this entry today goes out to a friend of mine from the US capital. I call her GAP girl because she works in the consumer fashion industry. Anyways, she going through a rough time right now and could be suffering from what we call home sickness. She’s got a bright career but then problems do come and go and unfortunately she is in a stage where all the troubles are piling up which even leads to the more advanced stages of home sickness.
So is there a cure for this? Is there the so called “chicken soup” for this type of sickness that doctors have not acknowledged? The thing about home sickness is that the patient is the only person who can tell if she is sick or not and the prescribed cure has a high percentage of failing. I am no doctor but the most common remedy that can cure this is friends/loved ones. As for me, I use three medications to help with this type of issue. They are a sense of humor, house hold chores and YouTube; of course you can add a dash of prayer and phone calls. Let me just elaborate on my choice of medication since I will be trying to treat Leah to something that could help her. I only offer half the remedy, a catalyst as I would say; the rest is up to her.
When you are usually feeling alone or troubled, sense of humor is always the first thing being attacked by the “solobako singulitus” bacteria (the loneliness germ). So basically, what I do is try to have this germ expunged by stimulating the sixth sense called sense of humor. Cracking up jokes, even the lamest helps. At the end of the day the thing is that you’ll be remembered because this what friends do? Cheer each other up when times are bad and when they are far away from you. A cure for a bad day is always a smile and a hearty laugh. If you really can’t smile about it, then I think the day of Armageddon has already arrived.
The second step of recovery is household chores. Nothing can help you forget of your loneliness unlike doing this activity. At the end, you either end up with a little pain on your back or a really clean house. Being idle is not just the devil’s workshop but just helps you remember how miserable you were. Do household chores, bake a cake, do part time work, be productive. This is what my father taught me and it will definitely do wonders for you.
The third thing you need is the internet. Believe me; nothing eats up more time than watching some funny videos on YouTube. I mean watch people make fools of themselves, sing with your favorite celebrity or chat with a long lost friend, it doesn’t cost a lot to do this and you are basically sharing the same virtual space with anyone, so you are not so far away. Of course if you can quit the forwarding chain letters and senseless emails, I’d appreciate it.
There are a lot of things people take for granted. I’ve been a product of overseas living; just imagine how miserable we were 15 years ago. Phone bills calling back home cost like gold, no internet, no mobiles or sms, no cable television that gave a taste of home. We basically had to call back the Philippines on a weekend since it was the cheapest time to do so, imagine people sending VHS recording of Eat Bulaga or Ginebra versus San Miguel Final series, and don’t get me started on the voice tapes… Consider yourselves lucky because technology just made the world smaller, it doesn’t matter which land mass you are staying in now, it’s about the air we breathe we share and those small messages sent from different mediums that actually help you forget that your loved ones is just a flight away. So stop sucking your thumb you big baby!