I was amazed that apparently some people are not taking this Shelter @ Home seriously. Worse, some even thought this whole thing is a joke – an over-reaction or a propaganda or fake news. They don’t realize it’s public health crisis that affects all of us, not just the older or the vulnerable demographics. It affects all of us if we don’t contain the spread. Maybe read “The Shocking Coronavirus Study that rocked the UK and US”, an article from Financial Times for example. Or just your local CDC which is trying not to freak you out, but at the same time, get you to realize the need for what we are asked to do at a tremendous sacrifice for many individuals and businesses. Times like this it’s normal to feel insecure and anxious.
If you happen to not look or hear or care about the current news and question (always question) or wonder why we are doing what we are asked to do – Please take a look at this – Science & Data – and try not to freak out as I did when I looked at it last week. Then, US was ranked at 8th or somewhere around there. That was bad enough. Now we are ranked 3rd. Our numbers have shot up since just few days ago so … quite surreal but numbers don’t lie and they are expected to accelerates and climb more as these are considered conservative numbers based on very limited testing. At this point, while I feel just fine physically, I am scared and I am not ashamed to admit it. I am normal especially because we have come to find out there are some key politicians who do not honor facts, data, science and medicine and the experts who have dedicated their entire lives to make a difference in those aforementioned fields. Instead of human tolls and that most critical number, they are looking at at different number called Dow Jones and NYSE. There is no economy if regular people young and old cannot get decent or no care at the medical facilities because of this. There is no economy if workers are dead !
Ignorance is NOT a bliss. Everybody had to get up to speed and be well informed from reliable sources. I believe we are all scared, some terrified, and if you are not, you probably don’t read or see or drank some Kool-Aid, living in the state of denial. So what do you do when what is happening is this unexpected and this disruptive ? Nothing has changed in this respect – You can control and manage your reaction. You OWN your response, your response and your actions, you own them. We have direct control over our actions. We focus and take actions – we do what you can to best prepare for the unexpected without over vigilance. If you feel vulnerable, that too is so normal; so human of you. You find ways to support and be supported; then do all you can to better strengthen your immune system by down-regulating the anxieties and doing, taking small actions in the areas that you can control and that may just mean, cleaning out and cluttering one drawer or a closet or some bigger project of good deeds (the fortunate ones). Or sadly, file for unemployment or look into cutting expenses, look to renegotiating rent/mortgage, contact your local congressman/woman, what have you.
Today, I reached out to a friend and she said we are LUCKY that we have a SHELTER to shelter at. Many people in the world don’t.
One of the reasons why my heart sank yesterday was not because of the -find blame- politics, toilet paper shortage or the empty store shelves – it was to learn that many cannot do the first line of defense of just simple 20 seconds hand washing with soap. Did you know almost 40% of world population does not have clean water to wash their hands with … So I guess whenever we feel those emotions of ‘why us?’ we have to remind ourselves, in spite of it all, we’ve got a lot. Don’t want to sound preachy but … it works for me! It is very helpful to put things into perspectives. Okay it’s bad but we are all in it together and we will come out of it … together.
Let’s always look for the silver lining of the challenges we are facing.
& always, gratitude …
Yoga Asanas, Pranayama, Meditation … all helps.
Let’s not underestimate our yoga practice.