Coronavirus: How to deal with the current situation?

Coronavirus: How to deal with the current situation?

In the last few weeks, the world has not only changed, but turned upside down. Chaos. There are a lot of questions in people’s mind, a lot of fear, a lot of contradictory news and information… Coronavirus articles pop up everywhere. And the whole situation is escalating day by day.

 

THE TRUTH ABOUT CORONAVIRUS

 

I have long refrained from writing anything on this subject, just because there is so much content on this topic out there already.

Unfortunately, since most of it goes from one extreme point of view to another, and since really useful and high-quality content is rare, and also because some of you asked me to write something, I decided to address this topic in today’s post.

I won’t talk of course from an epidemiological point of view, or provide any analysis of the actions and measures of governments (although I found a really good analysis on this for all of you who prefer thorough analysis than the “I think” and “I heard” materials, the link is here Coronavirus: Why you must act now). I will though, address this topic from the perspective of my work, as a coach, and talk about how people feel about it, how it affected us and what we can do about it.

I began to follow this topic more closely when the Carnival of Venice got cancelled in February. At the same time, a friend told me that she had canceled her trip to Italy. The situation escalated rapidly there, and over the weekend the number of those infected rose to over 250. Another friend that works in pharmacy told me that she had an emergency meeting regarding coronavirus testing devices implementation.
Then it became clear to me that something serious was happening.

 

WHEN THE SITUATION IS OUT OF CONTROL

 

Day by day it became more and more clear that the situation was getting out of hand. Even well-known scientists and experts in this field have changed the rhetoric in the public, because even they simply didn’t know what was going on.

They are confronted with something new and do not know how this new virus will behave or spread. So obviously any predictions are ungrateful. But there is another kind of escalation out there: fear and panic on the one hand, and ignoring and underestimating the situation on the other. A pure mirror of the content being imposed on us focused on one extreme or another, as I said earlier.
And here lies that major and fundamental factor in successfully dealing with any challenge: critical thinking.

The paradox we have today is that we have access to more information than ever before, the quantity of them is increasing rapidly, and at the same time we remain handicapped. We have not learned how to use this information.

We don’t know how to distinguish the truth from other people’s opinions. We don’t distinguish valuable content from the worthless one. We have not learned to distinguish facts from assumptions. Etc.

Despite having access to more information than ever before, this leaves us paralyzed. Because we have not learned how to think.
Merely absorbing someone else’s opinion is not thinking. Indiscriminate absorbing information is not thinking. If you do not digest food but eat whatever comes in hand, you risk your health, right?

Well, you’re risking something bigger here. And that is the basis for making any choices. Nothing is more powerful than that.
Why is this important? Because your reaction is based on what you have “swallowed”. Will you be in awe? Or ignore it? Do you have a choice?

 

DO YOU HAVE A CHOICE?

 

Coronavirus seems to be escalating on all sides, leaving the whole world powerless. Yes, this super advanced, technologically super developed world. Today, nature seems to have knocked it out with one kick.

So now what? Do we have a choice?

In one of my previous posts I wrote:
There is no freedom of choice until there is awareness of freedom of choice. And that is the very core of what I want to say today.
How quickly do we forget about the freedom of choice we have? How quickly are we overwhelmed by mass hysteria or ignorance (depends on which side of the extreme you are)?

We so easily forget the most valuable resource we have. Freedom to think.

So, I want to remind you: In these, like any other circumstances, you have the power to choose how you look at the situation!
No one can ever take away your power to respond to this situation No one could ever do that! The situation seems extreme to many, and in some ways it is, but it is not an exception from the fundamental truths that are always valid. Yes, even now. You always have a choice as to how you will think about this situation.

And if some negative emotions arise within you, which is completely normal, you also have all the freedom to choose how to deal with them.

FEAR IS THE MOST DANGEROUS VIRUS

 

There is no more dangerous virus than fear. From panic. It paralyzes us. And from this state of being we will not make any wise decision. Acting out of panic and fear is never rational and good for us. On the other hand, acting out of ignoring fear and danger can also be very damaging to us.

Then how to deal with the situation?

The only solution is to learn to manage fear. Fear itself carries important information for us, it is an important agent when we know how to deal with it.

HOW TO DEAL WITH FEAR?

 

What is it that fear tells you? What is its positive intention?
Caution, right? Yes, of course it is not wise to expose yourself to dangerous situations.

Coronavirus is here. And it’s not harmless. Nor are the consequences it brings. But it is not wise to remain in fear for too long either. People are left in fear because they have not learned how to manage it. It’s like swallowing food, but not really digesting it. It reamins somewhere within you.

Sometimes these “swallowed” emotions are active within us, but often they are passive. And then in situations like this, with so many triggers, they escalate.

Fear sticks to fear. The one that you continue to swallow rather than digest.
And that’s what hurts us the most. Fortunately, it’s never too late to learn how to manage fear.

Maybe this opportunity will lead you to that. Maybe this coronavirus will make you look more closely at what’s going on within you.
If this situation leads you to turn more within right now, and pay more attention to what’s going on inside of you rather than outside of you, then you can learn a lot from this situation.

If you want to read more, I recommend this post: What to do when you get stuck?

WHAT HAS CORONAVIRUS THOUGHT US?

 

I see this title everywhere these days. What has coronavirus taught us? Who knows? Maybe nothing? Maybe something?
This, like most other challenging situations, has taught me a lot. But it still teaches me, because it is ongoing and it is likely to last for a while. As well as the consequences that will come after. It is too early to draw conclusions.

But it’s a good time to get to an active state of mind and actively respond to the situation.
Ask yourself daily what you can learn from this. You. Not me. How can you develop yourself from this? How can you become more aware of your responsibility and the power to respond to the situation? How to not be a passive consumer of the content you come across and take control instead.

How can you take the learning from this situation and integrate it in order to rise above it. Not to magnify it. Not to push it under the rug. Not to turn your head to the other side and ignore it. But to embrace it. And to decide to deal with it. Because you can. Because you will.
And that is the greatest benefit of this situation:
Difficult situations that we cannot change force us to change ourselves.

This seems to be a time of a change within.

Would you like to find the best solutions and answers to the challenges you are facing? Would you like to discover how to deal with the situation in order to achieve what you want? Book your free consultation session now and see how coaching could help you!