This is a post I wrote on Facebook on March 13th that people really enjoyed. Many asked that I make it public so they could share. It wasn't originally intended for clients, but I hope you find it useful:
You know what's causing me some stress right now? People who are running around social media telling everyone not to panic. The people who they are telling not to panic are people who are talking about canceling events or lots of handwashing. That isn't panic. That's an appropriate level of responsiveness to an extreme situation.
To me, panic is when you get into those what-ifs. Here are some examples of panicky statements:
The future is a black box. We don't know what will happen in the future. To spend a lot of time imagining all the terrible scenarios that COULD play out is a dangerous game. The human brain is perfectly able to begin to feel the feelings that one could have in those situations. We are having feelings about events that haven't actually happened yet. If any of those things do come to pass, we will all pull together and do our best to take care of them then.
But for now, please take care of yourselves and react appropriately to what we know to be true. Things ARE bad, and they ARE going to get worse. But right now... today... Just make sure you are focusing on doing the best you can with today, given what you know.
And please don't spill your panic (you know, the panic you are denying that you are having) to try and get everyone else to attempt denial like you. If I ask you not to hug me (a legit good idea right now), and you tell me I'm panicking, you are making things worse, not better.
If you see a friend who is posting things that make you feel panicked, you can always mute them for a period of time. It's OK. That's self-care.
And speaking of self-care, take a walk, watch a show, pet a cat or a dog, read a book, meditate, do yoga, whatever gets you a COVID-19 break for a minute.
You know what's causing me some stress right now? People who are running around social media telling everyone not to panic. The people who they are telling not to panic are people who are talking about canceling events or lots of handwashing. That isn't panic. That's an appropriate level of responsiveness to an extreme situation.
To me, panic is when you get into those what-ifs. Here are some examples of panicky statements:
- What if this lasts for months and I run out of money, and I have no food, and my company shuts down?
- What if my kids can't go to school, and I can't go to work, and it's all terrible?
- What if the market crashes, and I lose all of my retirement and I have to work forever?
The future is a black box. We don't know what will happen in the future. To spend a lot of time imagining all the terrible scenarios that COULD play out is a dangerous game. The human brain is perfectly able to begin to feel the feelings that one could have in those situations. We are having feelings about events that haven't actually happened yet. If any of those things do come to pass, we will all pull together and do our best to take care of them then.
But for now, please take care of yourselves and react appropriately to what we know to be true. Things ARE bad, and they ARE going to get worse. But right now... today... Just make sure you are focusing on doing the best you can with today, given what you know.
And please don't spill your panic (you know, the panic you are denying that you are having) to try and get everyone else to attempt denial like you. If I ask you not to hug me (a legit good idea right now), and you tell me I'm panicking, you are making things worse, not better.
If you see a friend who is posting things that make you feel panicked, you can always mute them for a period of time. It's OK. That's self-care.
And speaking of self-care, take a walk, watch a show, pet a cat or a dog, read a book, meditate, do yoga, whatever gets you a COVID-19 break for a minute.
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