What a surreal experience huh? I’m not sure if you’re reading this in China or Korea, where the extreme controls have largely worked. Or maybe you’re in the hell of Italy, where the public did not take the warnings seriously.
Maybe you’re in Canada and in the midst of acceptance, or possibly the US and Britain, which are only beginning to have the seriousness of this issue dawn on them.
I am getting a lot of calls from highly distressed people. Fortunately, I’ve found it easy to be consistently calming, because I know a lot of science, I’m well versed on virus spreads and international factors, and yet my work is about helping people feel calm and capable.
There are ways for both adults and children to face this issue both honestly, yet without any panic or sense of doom.
We will have to make significant changes for a significant period of time. And we will find parts of this change very uncomfortable to make. The human brain likes consistency. So keep as much as you can the same, and then choose your changes with an eye towards finding improvements, rather than stopgaps. Many positives will grow out of this.
If you’d like periodic updates on the most practical information healthwise, for both mental and physical health, then in addition to your local public health officials, I will be using my facebook feed to take people through a logical progression of periodic posts that will create greater understanding and more positive feelings. Consider following it.
Also, I’m in the process of developing a new video system for remote training, but in the meantime if anyone’s panicked or needs to reach out due to loneliness, I can be contacted at scottis@relaxandsucceed.com and we can arrange some time for a COVID Calm Down Session.
We can stay informed and still not panic. In fact, solid, contextualized information often provides a lot of clarity and confidence. Let’s all remember that, as major as this is, it’s still just another human experience made up of all of our normal emotions.
Call your friends. Work on your financial stuff and work-from-home plans, and accept that all of us are still dealing with many unknowns. From there, just ensure you take time to truly enjoy life.
Play a video game online with a friend. Chat on the phone. Take reading or that instrument back up. Go for a walk outside. A lot of people are finding joy in these changes. And if you feel like being alone, watch a comedy.
Don’t forget to still love life. Because ironically, all of this social distancing is going to bring the world together. Just watch.
peace. s
A serious childhood brain injury lead Scott to spend his entire life meditating on the concepts of thought, consciousness, reality and identity. It made others as strange to him as he was to them. When he realized people were confused by their own over-thinking, Scott began teaching others to understand reality. He is currently CBC Radio Active’s Wellness Columnist, as well as a writer, speaker and mindfulness instructor based in Edmonton, AB where he still finds it strange to write about himself in the third person.