OPINION
Imagine coming home from a nine-hour work shift and the lights immediately go off as you unlock the front door.
Or maybe you don’t have to imagine – it’s probably happened to you too.
Loadshedding has been the most severe by far this year, resulting in many extreme consequences.
Not only has it created economic setbacks.
The impact of load shedding on our social lives and mental health has been largely underreported.
I was at work on Saturday, 17 September 2022, when what seemed like a readily available Eskom statement was distributed on the power utility’s media WhatsApp group. “Due to the breakdown of generating units overnight, stage 5 load-shedding will regretfully be implemented until 5:00 on Monday.”
I’ve become anxious each time I see a text from that group because there’s no telling how bad it’s going to get.
Being the daily bearer of this bad news on the radio is anxiety-inducing enough.
I went on to Twitter right after the announcement and there was an immediate flurry of reaction ranging from frustration to confusion. Many people wanted to know what exactly stage five would be and how it would affect their lives. Everyone was already predicting that things would get worse.
I don’t think much work has been done to assess the psychological consequences these power cuts have on people.
This question came to mind when my own mental strength was tested – the day I walked into my flat right at the same time as the power went off.
I panicked and my mind and heart started racing as I tried to work out what I should do in this dark and confined space, illuminated only by a cellphone light with its battery power diminishing by the minute.
Feelings of loneliness and despair were amplified and many thoughts began to circle in my head.
Do I jump from my balcony? I was spared from that mystery for now.
Do I call friends or family and lament this situation? But what happens when if the battery runs out while I’m calling around?
I’ve got three more hours to go before the lights come back on and I need to preserve the little cellphone torch so that I’m not in complete darkness.
One might argue that we should, by now, have resources readily available to plan our lives around load-shedding. But it’s not quite as easy when you’re mostly set in your ways and are used to your daily life being on a certain trajectory.
I personally don’t want to rearrange my life in line with the load-shedding schedule. It makes me feel like my freedoms are limited.
The material negative economic impact of load-shedding has long reared its ugly head but the verdict on the psychological assault is still out.
As reported here by World Health Organization, there was a link between the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased anxiety and depression levels as the virus ignited fears of loss and isolation.
So too do the constant power cuts, which spark concerns of unpredictability in everyday life, heightening a lot of distress and worry as people get concerned about their devices and appliances, how they’re going to get a meal together with 30 minutes till the next outage, and general fatigue and feelings of helplessness.
The world is steadily crawling from the pandemic that rattled and changed life as we knew it. With rolling power outages, one wonders if we will ever catch a break.
How do we gather our mental strength amid this treacherous systemic concept of load-shedding?
What’s the outlet for people who suffer from anxiety and depression at a time like this?
Whatever the answer is (or lack of solution), I hope we are all able to get out of this with our mental strength still intact.
_10 October marks World Mental Health Day _
Sifiso Zulu is a news anchor at Eyewitness News
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