A deadly pandemic quickly reveals just how much of a peculiar species us humans are. We get so caught up in our own thoughts and emotions, dreams and pains, we simply forget just how frugal life is. One speck of matter on this vast Universe, yet we’re so self-centred that we see ourselves as the centre of the Universe itself. All it takes is a small virus and, in a few days, everything that we knew about the world, freedom, security and health is thrown in the trash bin.
The current coronavirus epidemic is the perfect opportunity for us humans to live life a little differently than until now. All of our plans are put on hold and all of our knowledge and money and health are put to the test now more than ever before in the last 70 years. The only way out of this is through it, unfortunately for many of us. But for those of us who are ready to get through this, and I hope you all are, all it takes is to make peace with it.
In this guide:
How to keep sane in an insane world
Viruses have been around forever. This is not the first time the world has been ravaged by a virus. In fact just a few years ago, in 2009, the new type of flu killed lots of people all over the world. Panic ruled the world back then as well as it does now. In fact, the epidemic of panic was reaching unprecedented highs all over the world, even though social media and the actual press were not as developed as they are today.
Panic is the absence of a few very important things: information, logic and mental peace. When it comes to all of these things, we need to keep in mind that most of us lack the capacity to distinguish between the three elements or, if we have one of them, we lack the other two. Which leads to panic. Let’s take these three elements one by one and see how they can impact the world by reducing the pandemic mental breakdown.
Step 1: Stay Informed
Information is important in the time of crisis because it makes the difference between facts and fiction. The internet is not the most ideal way of keeping informed, especially places like Facebook, Twitter or blogs that are written by people that have no knowledge about viruses, transmission, statistics and anything else. Keep yourself informed from trustworthy sources, government bodies and stable media outlets who have no history of misinformation.
Step 2: Use Logic And Don’t Trust Imagination
It’s really easy to give in on the temptation of creating our own little worlds inside of our heads. When imagination takes the place of logic, we’re inevitably infected by the mental breakdown pandemic. Logic is important because it keeps us safe from imagining things that, in most cases, will never become a reality. Yes, we’re facing a pandemic. Yes, we might get infected. And yes, we might die. But logic and facts dictate it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY this will happen.
This doesn’t mean we should go ahead and not keep our hands clean or behave irresponsibly. On the contrary. Applying logic to the recommendations coming from trusted medical experts is one of the things we should all do. But letting logic go and becoming slaves of our own imagination, which is our own intelligence that turns against ourselves, this is the scariest and most dangerous thing we can do. For us and for the people around us. Logic is the way here.
Step 3: Apply Mental Peace
I’m not going to ask you to go ahead and start doing yoga or meditation today. Or begin running because we’re in an outbreak. Although that would be a great idea for your overall health. What I will ask you to do is to come into reality with who you really are on this planet. The truth is, we are all living our deaths, aren’t we? Can you say that you are living only your life? Not really. Every single moment we’re also living our deaths. It’s a natural thing that each of us has to go through.
Death is not an event that happens in 10 seconds in which our hearts stop beating. Death is a process that starts the moment we are born. It continues all through our lives. If death is so terrible, if people are so panicked about catching this virus and that it will end their lives, that’s a sign you’ve not come to terms with your quality as a mortal human being. This is, therefore, the cause of all of your panic and fear. You are not at peace with being human.
Living joyfully
The moment you realise this life is a continuous journey towards death, that’s when all fear regarding this virus and all other scary things around you will vanish. If death comes now, or 10 days from now, or even 50 years from now, the difference is just about time. Not about how you get to go. Death is natural, so the best thing we can do is to accept this and leave joyfully for as long as we have time on this planet.
Becoming joyful while living our death is essential. Or, we can become dead serious about life. Go to the store and buy all of the toilet paper and rice, and then wait at home for some virus to get us, grinding our teeth. Let’s go through this in a calm, joyful manner. Panic is useless and it creates wrinkles. Humanity has seen much worse disasters.
The least you can do is to stop turning your mind into toilet paper.
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Hi! My name is Gabriel, nice to meet you.
I run Gabriel Iosa Writing Services, my online dream business that’s now 4 years in the making. I’ve also worked as a journalist for 9 years and counting. My job is to come up with the best content for you regardless if it’s for your blog, website, book, social media posts or anything else. I can also help you with organic or paid reach so that you can put your products or services right in front of your future clients.
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