I made the difficult decision to stop seeing clients in person on March 13, 2020. Friday the 13th. I’m realizing that was both an ominous and hope-filled day.
Ominous in that four conditions emerged relatively quickly for our families, our communities, and our world. Due to a virus, the Coronavirus or Covid-19, our days as we knew them came to an abrupt halt.
Suddenly, there was increased stress, increased isolation, not a lot of dependable data points, along with a huge increase in uncertainty. Human beings don’t like any of those four scenarios individually. We really do not like them combined!
So there is naturally going to be more anxiety for each person. That anxiety might be borderline panic.
What does panic look like? Tried to buy toilet paper lately? Or Spam (someone please explain that one to me). The Internet is both helpful and not, and in the not category, are things like “Drink bleach.” Please don’t drink bleach.
No one reading this newsletter is going to drink bleach nor think that’s an effective answer to anything. Yet, the tornado like energy of crazy swirling around the Internet takes a toll.
Here’s my suggestion. Let’s practice this:
Purpose not panic.
You could also think of this as
Turn Panic into Purpose.
For the sake of this discussion, I’m defining purpose as: anyone you love; anything you love to do; any dreams, aspirations and goals you have for your life be they in your family, your career or any endeavors that are important to you.
While anxiety is likely to arise, following the what-if’s into a rabbit hole that is deep and wide and catastrophic doesn’t serve us. Instead, when you find your thoughts and feelings going into the anxious mode, use that as a red flag to redirect yourself. Immediately think of those people you love, the things you love, and the dreams you have for the future.
It’s more difficult for anxiety to keep a hold on us when we are intentionally directing our thoughts and feelings away from what we fear and toward what we love.
I believe that we’ve been offered a situation that allows us to deeply care for one another and recognize the dignity of life. I feel the most impactful stories that will be told of this time will be the individual stories that show the impact of this virus on one person, and how that ripples out. Many stories come to mind, and when I have permission, I will share them.
I believe that beyond, and in addition to, those individual stories is a rewriting of the collective narrative that reflects our interconnectedness and our power to create a world that abides by alignment to the dignity of all life.
Purpose not panic. You got this. We got this. Together.