06/10/2026
Sometimes there's really nothing else you can do but listen. And listen again.
Most of us are used to the idea that problems can be fixed with some well thought of actions, they're just one step away from a fix.
Rotational brownouts have been a constant challenge in Cebu for the last two months, so people have started buying power stations or putting up solar panels. The roof of your house may be leaking because of the sudden thunderstorms, so you patch it up. You're out of rice, so you go the supermarket and get a five-kilogram sack.
Our problems are a few minutes away (maybe more) to a solution; a single step, a call, or a hammer swing to repair.
But dealing with our own Mental Health and of others isn't.
Days dissolve into weeks and months of constant emotional turmoil. It gets worse, then it gets better. Sometimes it gets worse and worse and worse, the light fading and coming back. Sometimes it just lasts a day, a day of complete and utter fire and pain.
What do you do when there is no quick fix? When we're so used to handling something and it goes away with a click on the phone or a press of a button?
We've got to let go of the notion of fixing things. We need to realize that there are things that come and go as they please, and we shouldn't frustrate ourselves with trying to pullout the thorn: it's lodged deep in there, it isn't coming out.
So maybe the best way is to stay there, listen. Keep company the suffering which will move on its own accord. May it be your own inner whirlpools or others, dragging your thoughts deeper and deeper: all you got to do is stay there and hold. The goal: to survive.
This mental health month, let us be reminded that the best thing we can do sometimes is to just be there. And be there again.
- Daryll
