How is your mental load and attention span?
We had to live August in slow motion to find the headspace to deal with the onslaught and fit everything in, Matrix-style. (Zennie/Private Media)
August 2023 was a long year, or at least that’s what it felt like.
On the first of the month, I returned from overseas to find myself embroiled in discussions about the Voice. Engagement and interest seemed to have gone from zero to 100 in the month I was away and I was completely ill-equipped to join or contribute to the conversations.
Thanks to Aunty, I think I caught up enough to at least have an informed view, but having an informed view on such a sensitive topic isn’t that helpful. Perspectives aren’t helpful when the discussions are personal and the idea of exploratory debate, (rather than good-guy-bad-guy polarisation) seems to be a bit foreign.
I noticed this most at my birthday dinner, with friends almost in tears when contrary views were expressed. The entire month has been dominated by this discussion; it was literally the first word I heard as I flicked on my brekkie TV this morning. I can only imagine increasing intensity over the coming six weeks — and then we’ll have to face the aftermath.
I enjoy a debate, if it’s an exploration, if you’re allowed to hold a view, gather information, change your mind, gather or share more information — maybe bring a global perspective to a table — but it’s a costly game.
Mid-month we saw the release of the First Action Plan (2023-2027) under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children (2022- 2032). This Action Plan sets targets to end violence, including a 25 per cent annual reduction in female victims of intimate partner homicide. This received decent coverage but it wasn’t an enduring news story.
What was enduring however was the message ringing in my head for days. “Our best plan is to be okay with 75% of expected intimate partner homicides” in the coming year. Who are we?
To bring some calm to my internal storm I had to go and find the facts and figures a few days later. According to the National Homicide Monitoring Program’s 2022 report, in 2019-20, there were 45 intimate partner homicides; 36 of these were female victims (80%). This averages to approximately one woman being killed by an intimate partner every 10 days (AIC NHMP, 2022).
Oh, okay, I told myself, allowing for likely discrepancies across the years, only 27 people (typically 80% will be women) will be murdered in the safety of their own homes this year. That’s 27 too many and it gets me thinking about who have we become as a society when a 25% reduction in deaths is okay — these are mothers, sisters, wives, aunties, grandmothers.
Of course, we all know that behind that figure sits a tsunami of near misses and casual beltings.
With these two layers of pain and oppression dominating my subconscious, the Women’s World Cup was a welcome relief. I spent hours on that couch, holding serious conversations with the TV, boosting sales of ice cream, and eventually eating directly out of the tub when I admitted to myself that there was no point in pretending it was going to last the night. It was nerve-wracking, inspiring, surprising, motivating. Yes, we know William didn’t show up and we had the occasional predictable idiot dinosaur commentary. My attention was focused on champions being champions, it was all going so well!
The only attention I want to give to this is that it was called out, no one got away with anything, and it didn’t just go away. If you are reading this not understanding what all the fuss was about, Annabel Crabb wrote a great piece, capturing the situation and communal underlying seething rage, in a very calm, rational, informed way.
Of course, the Big Four story continued to keep us wondering if it could really get any worse, as well as waiting to see how the phoenix would rise with what seems like ongoing big end-of-town ‘luck’.
And then Qantas finished my August off with its ‘tale of woe’ — or ‘being caught doing the wrong thing far too many times’. And on a side note — why did you keep selling me easy transfers and bumping me to terrible ones? Oh: money.
Then there’s the daily onslaught of the cost-of-living pressures, the decline of the Chinese economy, and rental stress all ticking along in the background.
I feel as if I had to live August in slow motion to find the headspace to deal with the onslaught and fit everything in, Matrix-style.
So the point of this litany is:
Am I the only one who is feeling that my headspace is being occupied by squatters, no one paying rent but taking all the benefits of my attention?
I hope so. However, if you are in the same mental boat as I am, commit to a different September with me.
It’s Spring. Time for renewal and optimism, and after this being the column I came up with, it’s definitely time for a mental spring clean.
For me, that means focusing on my sleep, nutrition, exercise and paying more attention to where I’m paying attention. We’ll see how that plays out.
