Liberate Yourself, Liberate Others

In the past few weeks, the whole world has been gripped with fear and panic about the Corona virus. With the news coverages come a lot of panic, anxiety, and fear. Doomsday thinking has been triggered manifesting itself in panic buying and empty shelves in the supermarkets.

The selfish tendencies of many were triggered as they found themselves doing things they would have criticised others for had they been on the receiving end, bystanders or observers.

Last week a man asked me if I was worried about the Corona virus. I replied ‘No’ and he seemed taken aback by my response. He pondered my response and looked at me. I appreciate the seriousness of the virus but I also know that anxiety, panic and worry will only compound this global issue.

After a few moments he asked if I was religious. Again, I said ‘No’. He was puzzled. I added that religion was man made and that I was not keen on religion.

I could see that he was struggling to figure me out so I explained that I had faith in God and have a relationship with him. I told him that I believed that God loves and cares for me, consequently I trust Him to look after me.

I added that my part was to do everything in my power to stay healthy and safe. That way, I would set my body up for its best chance to cope with any potential infection.

This includes eating a healthy diet, sleeping well, staying active, using food supplements if necessary, maintaining good hygiene and following the guidelines laid down by the health authorities.

This man was feeling very anxious about what might be and this was already affecting his well being. He seemed calmer after our conversation and appeared to have a better perspective.

This encounter reminded me of a quote from Nelson Mandela who said, “As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.”

My question this week is, ‘how are you responding to the crisis?’ And how are you liberating others around you? What can you do differently? What do you need to do less or more of?

Here are a few tips:

Don’t sweat what you can’t control

Too many times, we lose sleep and our peace over things outside of our control. The way to get back in control is to ask yourself what you can realistically do about the situation. Figure it out and start to do it.

Then take a leap of faith on the rest by choosing to trust in the best outcome. It takes the same effort and time to worry or have faith so choose to have faith.

Reject the narrative in your head

We are bombarded by the news and social media all day long which brings fear and anxiety into our lives.

Soon enough we start to have imagined symptoms that our minds are conjuring up because the mind is creative like that. Reject those thoughts.

Stop feeding your mind with garbage. Your mind needs raw materials and it will use the information you feed it to generate your thoughts. Feed it junk and it will give you a whole lot of nonsense in return.

I’m not asking you to be uninformed but you don’t have to listen to negative news repeated 24 hours a day which is exactly what will happen if you keep your tv or radio on most news channels. Also don’t spread fake and unverified news.

Follow the advice from official channels

There are steps we can take to be safer and to keep our communities safe. Some of the pieces of advice are ‘no-brainers’ so we just need to get on with them.

Wash your hands for at least two minutes, use an alcohol based gel in between and if you suspect you’re poorly or have been exposed, stay at home and phone for medical advice. These are simple things we can all do.

Remember we are all in it together

Buying all the hand sanitizers in your local supermarket is not going to keep you safe. It’s nothing but selfish thinking. Bear in mind you still have to interact with those who couldn’t buy any because of you.

For everyone to be safe, we all need to play our part. Don’t be stubborn, don’t enforce your right to free movement, don’t think you’re better or that your life is worth more than other’s.

We will beat this virus if we all choose to care – about ourselves and others equally.

Thank you for reading and sharing my posts with others. Here’s to us all having an anxiety-free week. See you next week.