THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT
When I wrote this we were all in lockdown because of the coronavirus. The plagues of Egypt are very different in nature, but just like the coronavirus they appeared very suddenly, without warning and totally changed the way people lived.
SHEERAH​
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Pay attention to your breathing they say, take deep breaths they say, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, think calm thoughts and the panic will subside. If your attention wanders from the breath, gently bring it back again.
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It's worked before but it’s not working now – how could it when everywhere I look there are flies, and all I can hear is their constant buzzing?
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It's hard to believe that just over a week ago I was out at a friend’s and we were laughing together and making plans to meet again soon. Now I fear the world is coming to an end and we'll never meet again.
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All our water turned to blood, then we had frogs (can you imagine what it’s like to wake up with frogs in your bed?) and then those awful gnats, but these flies are worse, far worse.
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All of us are living through a nightmare, with no idea when it will end, or if it will end.
I made up a rhyme:
I've got flies in my mouth,
I've got flies in my food,
My cries to our Gods
Have done me no good.
I've got flies in my eyes,
Not one of them dies,
They've blackened my floors
and they've blackened the skies.
Now it's going round and round in my head, nearly as loud as the buzzing, and I can't get rid of it. I think I'm going mad.
I tried lying on the bed, covers right up over my head, in an attempt to get away from them. But no matter how well I tucked in, a few flies found their way under the covers and that was horrible, it just brought on the panic even more.
My heart's pounding and my stomach's churning; someone said it was the fight or flight response but I can't do either, I'm trapped, powerless, hopeless.
Death would be better than this, at least then the noise would stop. Can things be any worse?
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