With Canada Day behind us, the summer season is now in full swing, and many are currently enjoying, or planning for, some summer adventures. From an afternoon on the golf course, to a weekend of fishing, to some time at the beach with the family, the options for summer fun are many, and they have the potential to offer us a distraction from the many issues that can nag at us daily, increasing our frustrations and heightening our anxieties.
The things that bring us regular frustration can be many, and we are typically not alone in our frustration. From a pothole-filled road to the lack of food trucks in our parks to the desire to have playground equipment return to Raper’s Park, the things that frustrate us can be many, and they don’t need to be monumentally important issues in order to raise our blood pressure.
I regularly hear from folks who are fed up, folks who are frustrated with one issue or another. Sometimes I share those frustrations, while other times I wonder why we humans allow ourselves to become agitated by things that might be considered monumentally minor by others. I hear a lot about bad roads, high taxes, the need for more recreational opportunities, or the money perceived to have been wasted by council on item X, when item Y seemed to be more important – to some at least.
The frustrations and concerns of Meaford residents extend far beyond the local council chamber of course.
The lack of affordable housing, and growing food insecurity are two issues that I have had many conversations about in recent years, often with residents who have genuine fears about the direction that we are heading as a society.
New development proposals can also be cause for friction in the community and residents are right to push back when a development doesn’t make sense. Many of the people that I hear from when it comes to a new development proposal are beyond frustrated, and they are often angry, and sometimes exhausted. I have written many times over the years that growth in any community can be a challenge, and in a small rural community it can be especially so, and I have seen these development proposals weigh heavily on folks that I talk to. For many, such development proposals can become all-consuming for neighbouring residents, and it can become a daily source of frustration.
The fears and frustrations that we face daily are inescapable, and are felt by us all, though we are wise to remember that what frustrates one might not frustrate another in the least. What might be a major concern for one could be absolutely insignificant to another.
Our community has a unique additional issue that continues to hang over our heads, and that is the proposed pumped storage facility, a proposal that over the past five years has been cause for anger, a cause for debate, and a cause for some division in this community. Like most of our other concerns and frustrations, the pumped storage issue isn’t going away any time soon as the lengthy process marches on.
The summer months can either be a time to set aside the daily frustrations for a while, or they could be a time to stew and become increasingly angry and frustrated.
I was speaking to an old friend last week who was preparing for his upcoming two-week summer vacation, for which he has rented a cottage in the Muskoka region. I asked what he was most looking forward to on his vacation, expecting him to talk about fishing or boating. “I am looking forward to shutting out the world for a couple of weeks,” he said. “No news, no social media, no work email, just the lake, the golf course, and the cottage.”
I sometimes wish I knew the secret to truly shutting out the madness of the world around us, because though I have tried from time to time, I usually fail. Instead of enjoying a summer sunset thinking of nothing but the beauty of our natural world, my brain will keep mulling bombs dropping in the Middle East, or the growing issue of food insecurity that I see impacting more and more people, or whatever the latest local infrastructure conundrum might be.
There are some things I do well, but shutting out the world’s ailments is not one of them unfortunately, but even with my poor track record, at some point this summer I will try once again to, even if only for a few days, push the realities of the world aside.
I don’t think I am alone in my difficulty of setting the serious aside in favour of focusing on having some fun. With all of the many concerns and pressures facing us all in today’s often chaotic world, it can be increasingly difficult to take advantage of the summer months in order to take a bit of a break from the challenges of daily life to instead focus on the little things that make life worth living.
Thanks to social media, and those little devices we all carry around in our pockets 24 hours a day, seven days per week, we are constantly bombarded with the problems of the world, of our nation, and of our community, so disconnecting can be a real challenge.
Even if we do manage to actually disconnect and push aside the daily frustrations for a week or two, the unfortunate reality is that the problems and pressures that cause us frustration and anxiety do not go away, they are all waiting for us once our brief escape is over.
Whatever frustrations might be occupying your mind, whatever issues might be taking up space in your daily life, I hope that the arrival of the summer months will bring an opportunity, even if only a brief opportunity, to disconnect, to set aside the daily frustrations, to instead simply enjoy life for a while, to enjoy the sound of the crickets in the evening, or to take in a magical sunset. The mountain of problems won’t go away, they won’t magically disappear, but the perspective provided from some time apart from our frustrations can be invaluable.
