For more than a year we have been facing strict lockdowns, various restrictive measures, expecting the worst-case scenario to unfold, etc. Absolutely everyone felt the pressure at some point. This is not the text where we tell you what to do and advise to hang around with us. The topic is too serious to be overlooked and treated lightly. What you have before you is a completely personal view about the challenges we face and one of the ways to overcome them.
Between Media and Our Inner Thoughts
Today, the best thing you can do is turn off the tv and stay away from news portals. Staying informed is important, but we should know how to take news in right dosages. Small dosages. Otherwise, we are exposing ourselves to extensive worrying and potentially – hopelessness.
When you hear the news that new virus strain is going to take its toll on great part of the population very soon, you feel the need to devise a rescue plan. The only problem is the fact you are fighting the invisible enemy and there is not much you can do. Being unable to handle the matter and putting your life in someone else’s hands can lead you to feeling hopeless.
What Worries Do to Us?
Well, nothing good, obviously. I read a lot on this topic and many psychologists agree that worrying can have roots in justified fear. However, worries tend to exhaust our resources. Although it looks as though worries keep you alert, they don’t. What keeps us alert is fear, which can be the core of worrying. But handling fear in proper manner is a completely different issue.
Worries have impact on both our body and mind. For example, they can cause eating disorders, insomnia, anxiety, physical tensions, loneliness, and so on.
In case you are a cheerful and pro-active person, I suppose it can happen that you handle worries easily. Perhaps, the worrying state of mind forces you to successfully come up with your own plan B. Having a solution to a problem takes away a great amount of stress, because it provides the feeling of control over the situation. If you are that kind of a person, be a good scout and share your magic with us to help others cope with the situation.
So, What’s the Worst that Can Happen?
I believe you must have heard this question many times so far. If anything, your mother, or your best friends must have used this line when you were in trouble at some point of your life. We may call it a phrase, but it has some truth in it. Sometimes, we use this line to accentuate the meaningless aspects of the worries. This is why we will focus on the worst-case scenario today. Allow me to ask you: What is the worst-case scenario with the new virus strain, and how will you deal with it?
A Way to Face the Worst-Case Scenario
It is simple. I will share here the advice I recently got: visualize it and go a step beyond. Try to imagine the emotional toll it would have on your soul. More importantly, put a time stamp on it. Whatever feeling this visualization causes, you should make sure the “experiment” lasts for a limited period of time (counted in minutes, for example).
Doing what I have just described above should train our minds to cope with the worst or the most difficult situations we can potentially find ourselves in. The extra benefit of all this is the fact that after some time the worrying part would most probably vanish.
When you come to think of it, the result is similar to that of the vaccines – or at least the “old-way” in which the vaccines used to work. Inject a small portion of the problem, which the organism will fight and recognize every subsequent time it appears. If it works for the body, it should work for the mind as well, right?
If you know other ways of facing the worries, let us know. We would love to hear from you. Let’s exchange opinions and perhaps we can help one another to stay sane in this crazy world. Cheers!
