Avoiding PTS

Yesterday Andrew, my HSUS contact, gave me the details of where I'll be staying in Charlottetown next week. I presumed that it would be just a dead ordinary motel, but it turns out to be a rather luxurious 5 star inn. Aside from logistical considerations. I guess that our hosts want to soften the blow of having spent the days watching seals having their skulls bashed in by giving their foreign guests some real comfort. I also suspect that they managed to get a really good deal on the hotel rooms since few tourists visit venture to this town out of season.

A few days ago I paid a visit to a psychologist I know to find out how I should best deal with the atrocities I'm about to see and how to avoid running the risk of developing post-traumatic stress problems. She explained that PTS usually occurs as a result of feelings of powerlessness. That you experience something that you can actually do nothing to change. The very fact that I'm more than 100% behind the goal of the whole expedition should make all the difference. As long as I keep in mind exactly why I'm actually there.

Any suffering inflicted deliberately on animals and people affects me deeply, but I tend to deal with things really pragmatically and I know how to translate my emotion into practical deeds that also contribute a solution to the problem. This is why I've been a vegetarian for half my life, why I'm a professional animal activist and volunteer on the animal ambulance. The psychologist insisted that the most important thing was to not bottle up my feelings and to talk with my travelling companions, friends, family and colleagues about it all. I guess that this weblog also offers the opportunity to immediately deal with my feelings and share them with others.