Separation anxiety and the Surge Bin

I noticed yesterday and again today that people have been getting a bit cranky around here. I have been pondering on this and trying to figure out why when we are about to be 'released' from 'Kearl Correctional'. And now when the sun is shining ut it is still cool in the morning making it nice to work in. As always I have some ideas and some of them may even be right. At least it will give me something to think about. Do you remember a few articles ago when I talked about how routine drive so many of us are? When a job closes down it is a huge change in routine. There is a stress test out there where they give stress points for various things that happen in your life and they are weighted to show which ones have the greatest impact. Losing your job happens to be right there after losing a loved one and public speaking. Now our situation is not quite so bad as we aren't getting fired but rather we are finishing one. But still that crazy element known as uncertainty lurks ever present in the background. Let's face it, people don't exactly love working up here. Most are here firstly for the money and secondly for the job satisfaction. And you home life would really have to suck if you like living in camp more than at home. But when you get past all of that this work is pretty secure if you follow the rules and keep catching the plane back at the end of the turnaround. Additionally the fact that you Have probably made friends with other 'inmates' is something hard to give up as well. The people you meet for breakfast. The group you get together with in the morning at brass alley. The ones you sit and shoot the shit with first thing in the morning your trailer crew and your immediate workmates. No they aren't your husband or your wife but after being here together every day for so very long they have become part of what keeps your psyche in balance. And so we subconsciously have a dread of missing them when we leave. Together the combined anticipation of the upcoming change is referred to by shrinks as separation anxiety (and here you thought separation anxiety was being nervous that your milk would turn into cottage cheese!). As this job moves closer and closer to completion the anxiety level will increase and bring the stress levels up with it. We will have a harder time joking with each other. We will read into each other's teasing and will see things that aren't there. When communicating with the ones back home we will be far more likely to get into a fight. All those parts of our regular routine, all of our normal beliefs and expectations (our 'norms') will begin to disappear into the confused mental state that sociologist Emile Durkheim referred to as 'anomy'. The good news is that if we know it's likely to get that way we can do things to ward it off. With our friends especially we need to think a little more before we react. That way rather than snapping at a joke or a tease we can tell ourselves 'why is that bothering me? Am I really offended or am I just stressing a bit too much?' I think I am going to look up some jokes online so that I have them handily in my mental pocket to pull out when the air starts to tighten up. But most of all I think I am going to try and tease my friends less as I value them all and I know that at times like this our thick skin gets thinner and our reactions or 'snap-backs' get faster. This has been a tough job but a fair one. I am going to miss it and the people who were the text or texture in the story a out this place. And before we leave here I am going to work hard at valuing and cherishing the people that made this potentially cold and lonely place warm and fun.