Panic buying, events being cancelled and businesses closing, what a time we are having because the media are spinning everything negative about Coronavirus. I know it is bad and needs dealing with, but by generating this hysteria, the media has done more bad than good and needs controlling!
I thought that being informative and helpful was the role of the news, not to build negative emotional responses. Unfortunately, that is the way it is, and, as humans, we tend to like to concentrate on bad things instead of the good things.
Our brains were developed with a high sense of security and therefore scans (over 20,000 a day) for things out of place, wrong or, possibly, a threat to us. We then focus on responding in one of 4 ways:
- Fight – attack the source
- Flight – run away from the source
- Freeze – do nothing
- Flock – gather around others
These responses, over 2 thousand years ago, probably saved your life but, today, are rarely successful or even appropriate. I saw, on TV, 4 women actually fighting over toilet rolls in a supermarket – it’s crazy. (Picture above)
It a world where information is at the end of your finger tips, it’s tough to source out the facts sometimes. People make money for telling great stories, not always accurate stories.
In our, fast paced, forever changing world, it is easy to feel threatened by changes, world events or even innovation, because it is different. Sometimes, I just like to be able to turn up (to work, at home, to football, the gym or in life) where things are as I’d expect. Nothing has changed, there are no dramas, no conflicts, no new people, ideas or technologies to bother or challenge me.
Mind you, I think after a while I would be left behind, I’d still be using VHS and wouldn’t even have an email address, if I did close my mind to new things or not get challenged with change.
The skill, in this world, is to make sense for you.
For Covid-19, I have used the freeze approach. I have ignored things and avoided getting worried as it is not affecting me, at the moment. I have taken advice and talked with the family and that is probably as much as I can do to affect things.
Last night, my Son told me that, the gym he uses, has shut due to a member being tested positive. That has now brought things closer to home, but I still believe, you can only do what you can do. The rational thing to do is to raise our awareness and do a couple of things:
- How are we feeling?
- Where are we going?
- Who are we mixing with?
- Wash our hands more frequently and throughly
- Carry tissues – catch it, kill it, bin it.
Apart from that, life goes on. I hope, for you all, the impact of Covid-19 is minimal.
Be positive, stay rational and follow the basic rules. (No punch ups in the aisles…)