Secrets from the Laundry
Carolyn Dumas-Simons
Cleaning the lint trap…
Are you apprehensive as you sink your fingers into the collection of cloth fibers?
Are you wondering if something other than the lint is in there and will reveal itself?
Are you delighted, when, after a clean sweep, the lint comes away in one piece; yielding and whole?
And do you fully trust there is nothing left behind?
Anxiety is very much like a lint trap!
On days when your anxiety cannot be on the “Normal” cycle, the lint trap mirrors
the chaos.
Through agitation and high temperatures, the fibers are forced together, to appear as one.
On these days, when you clean the lint trap, there is nothing yielding or whole.
Just course, unrecognizable clumps of fibrous debris.
On these days, when your anxiety has you facing-off with self, struggling to trust your emotions, you eventually realize;
You have washed the “Delicates” with the “Heavy” load!
Creators
Carolyn Dumas-Simons
Carolyn Dumas-Simons is a retired health care practitioner in Ajax, Ontario. She has a clinical diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and P.T.S.D. She is so much more than these diagnoses! Two of her poems; “Warrior in Training” and “Where or Where Has My…” were previously published in MindFull Magazine, The Poet (UK), 2021. Carolyn found the uncertainty of the Covid pandemic damaged the balance between her mental wellness and mental illness, and sought treatment. Taking risks at creative writing about mental health challenges is part of her recovery for well-being.