Being Mindful with Anxiety.
These are strange times we’re living in right now. The fear and uncertainty is paralyzing for those who are awake and paying attention. Stores are closed or have reduced hours, public spaces are shut down, humans have expanded their social bubbles so much that merely walking down the street is a game of ‘dodge virus’. This is all justifiable of course, it’s just strange. Humans are social creatures, so for us to actively avoid one another causes a great amount of stress.
Anxiety can manifest in many ways and I have found myself becoming more and more irritable as the days pass. I’m a creature of habit and, at least for me, it’s hard to teach an older dog new tricks. The requirements of being more mindful about the distance you keep from other people, where and what you touch and whether you’re washing your hands enough if so consuming that by the end of they day I feel exhausted by it. Additionally, we have out of towners visiting our small mountain town, leaching off of our already limited resources and increasing the likelihood of further spreading the virus. Go the fuck home! ***Deep breath. I’m not panicking but being mindful about this anxiety and communicating with my wife and kids has become very important at keeping the peace. I’ve snapped at the kids and my wife, but since I have become at least slightly more mindful of my behaviour, I try to make things right immediately. I’m a work in progress but I am working on it.
“Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it and this is certainly starting to prove itself in our human population.”
Now I am to understand there are new scams popping up spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and taking advantage of people’s fear and discomfort. It is said that adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it and this is certainly starting to prove itself in our human population. When people are scared, they make irrational decisions, like buying all the toilet paper, or buying up all the meat in the grocery store and gloating about it. I can think of 100 ways to wipe my ass without TP but all it takes is a few scared people to start hoarding to have it affect other frightened people into doing the same thing. Allowing fear to make decisions for us is why people are hoarding and, diametrically, denying what’s happening across the globe. Think critically.
It’s scary to not be in control of your environment. You can’t control the rate of spread. You can’t control what other countries of provinces or people for that matter, are doing to mitigate the issue facing all of us right now. So what can you control? You can control what YOU are doing to be socially responsible and to take care of your families health. Instead of looking at this globally, tackle a smaller situation like your home. Keep things clean around the house and limit your exposure to others. Use this time to take stock and invest in the important things in your life. Get outside.
As a cyclist, I find the most reprieve from being in nature, smelling the earth as it thaws out from the icy winter. The aroma of the trees as the sun warms them and they prepare their foliage for the spring. The sound of your breath and the wind passing by your ears as your tires crunch the gravel. Get out with your family and walk in the sun and tell stories to one another. Read to your kids. Get out the pencil crayons and colour with them. Take time in silence. Sit and breath. Get a meditation App and practice, practice, practice. I need to practice more…
Just be…
The message I want to convey? Just to be good to one another. We’ll make it further as a species if we work together and treat each other with care and kindness.
