If you are looking for something that will validate your stance on the quarantine controversy to stay inside (or not), you won’t find it here. I am not going to tell you that staying in, or reopening is good because of “xyz”.
I am going to tell you to knock this shit off.
Listen, regardless of what you are feeling/wanting/believing there is this truth: it is based on fear. And/or pain.
Cause, the person who wants everyone to stay home longer maybe lost someone special in their life to the virus. Or is a worker on the front line and has seen some terrible shit. Or is a high risk individual and is terrified of dying. Or has family that is high risk and terrified of them dying. Or is just terrified of this unknown shitty virus.
The person who wants things to open back up maybe lost their job and is struggling to support their family. Or they have a fourth generation business and are about to lose everything that they and previous generations worked so hard to build. The financial and mental health struggles are daily, and the unknown of what will happen now and in the future from the closure, is terrifying and causing unimaginable distress. Or maybe it is someone in a secretly abusive relationship and now home has gotten even more dangerous. Or maybe it is someone who is mentally suffering and struggling from their lack of routine and feeling lifeless, hopeless, purposeless and just wants to end it all.
Maybe we can stop pointing fingers, shaming, blaming and being a bully to people who are just afraid?
You are not going to ‘convince’ someone else that your point of view is the ‘right’ one anyhow. Because each side is afraid. And because each of us are subject to something called confirmation bias (we only seek and see things that line up with what we already think and feel). Combine these factors with natural human reactions to being told they are wrong (can you say defensive?)- it is just a war of words, pain, and terror.
Yes the information in the media is confusing. Yes the numbers are likely inaccurate. Yes there is falsifying shit and fear mongering going on.
But here is another truth: you don’t control any of it anyhow. You only control how you react and the choices you make.
And by choosing to be in a battle of fear based jabs, statements and reactions- you are tearing down your own immune system.
Each time you post or respond to something in order to ‘prove’ your point that you are ‘right’, or post something with the intent of
tearing down or shaming someone you disagree with (or read something intended to shame you)… you raise the flag in the amygdala part of your brain (the fight or flight area) and that triggers a slew of things chemically in our body (not to mention it shuts down the thinking part of your brain that makes the sound decisions).
Combine that over and over again along with the fact that we are all in a constant state of emotional trauma…well, my friends, I am here to tell you the virus could be the least of our actual problems.
All of those chemical reactions combined with the heightened fear and emotional trauma- and we are making ourselves sick. We are creating a perfect pathway for a weakened immune system, digestion issues, sleep disruption, anxiety and depression issues which could lead straight to heart disease, diabetes, self harm idealization, addictive issues and more.
So…knock this shit off.
By ‘defending’ what you think will heal us- you are in fact making yourself sick .
And by the way… you are also making anyone absorbing your stuff…which could be your loved ones..the very ones you also want to protect.. sick as well.
By participating in online ‘battles’ we are making ourselves, and our loved ones, weak and susceptible at best, and creating a pathway for terrible disruption mentally and physically (including death) from so many other things- including the virus, at worst.
So this is an invitation to health for all of us. Focus on what you can control (which isn’t your neighbors, or the government or the businesses around you). Consider making choices and reacting in ways that bring you (and your loved ones) as much peace and acceptance as possible. Consider making choices that bring you health.
This isn’t easy. For any of us. But what would it look like if we each focused on what is within our own control, and maybe offered some compassion to others who are suffering and in fear?
I hear you. I feel you. I am with you (inside or out). Human to human. We are in this together. Let’s support each other together- by focusing on what we can control: ourselves.
