The Coronavirus will kill us all!
Disclaimer: This is not your typical article. It is an opinionated reality check.
Our brains are the most powerful organ of our bodies. Think about it for a second. All our organs’ vital functions are guided by the synapses sent from our brain through our nervous system, our emotions are generated and mediated by the chemical balance in our brain and its reaction to stimuli, and the power of thinking and ideation that resides in our minds. Can we safely assume that what we feed our brains will eventually determine our well-being, our emotional state, our thoughts, internal dialogue, and our conversations with others?
I don’t want to make this post take the form of an anti-media protestor, but coming from the online marketing industry and having studied arduously the ways to influence peoples’ behaviour and decision-making online (and offline), I must tell you: do not fall prey to the overload of negative, clothed-as-informative, news that is being continuously pushed in all forms of media.
Literally, I abstain from reading the news.
(Sure, there are other sources of information that I do read, but not mainstream news)
I allow my mind to be informed by my surroundings and by my interests exclusively. When the outbreak began, I initially fell prey to thinking that I “have to be informed by the news” to know what is going on. To my surprise, I found myself in a state of constant stress and an overload of negative stimuli originating in the various news sites that all present the “same” inconsistent information with their own ideology driving the tone. It got to the point that I literally was up late into the night (or rather super early into dawn) thinking about all the symptoms I was exhibiting. Shortness of breath, a light dizziness, tunnel vision, headache, runny nose, muscle pain, and the sensation of having an elevated body temperature. In my mind — Corona all the way!
What my brain purposely disregarded was that:
(1) I had spent the entire day standing in my kitchen and had done a rigorous home workout → Muscle pain
(2) I was standing in the kitchen working on my projects on the computer and reading these news articles on my phone and computer all day (I don’t like sitting) → Headache and tunnel vision
(3) I raised the heater to 19C while maintaining the windows and doors open all day (it was 6C outside) and the heater is right next to where I stood all day (heater radiating right on my face) → Runny nose and headache
(4) I had eaten only two light meals, had at least 5 cups of coffee, and not enough water → Dizziness and lightheadedness
(5) I was up until late thinking and worrying about all the news and things I read that day, which was all pure anxiety and tiredness → Shortness of breath, elevated body temperature, and overall CHAOS!
So what’s the point of all this? The point is that I hate seeing how we are falling prey to our own minds. We are giving in into the pandemonium and this is leading to a negative spiral around the world. Guys, we must beat this and get our thoughts straight. We can’t allow ourselves to get into a defeated mindset, we can’t allow our brains to be taken over by what is being shoved in our faces left, right, and center, and we can’t allow ourselves to fall into a reactive behaviour and a comatose state of inactivity and passiveness.
We must get it together, we must get into action, we must take control of our own lives and our own brains.
Am I telling you to go out there and start a massive rave? No. Am I telling you not to follow the recommendations to socially distance yourself to protect the high risk groups? No. Am I saying that the Coronavirus is not a threat? No.
What I am saying is that you need to get your thoughts in the right place. The majority of us are probably stuck at home at the moment with little to do (or so we think) and trying to pass time by binge watching on Netflix, joining into the hype of online gaming, participating in instagram repost stories to “play with the algorithm of Instagram” or as a “challenge” to post photos of us as kids.
Come on guys, let’s invest in our minds in these times of hardship. Let’s spend less time following these trends and more time reading, let’s watch less “junk” media and invest more time in sparking our own creativity, let’s stop being the spectators of the creative and brilliant minds and become the musicians, the film makers, the writers, the designers, the inventors, and the disruptors. Let’s spend less time drowning in negative thoughts instilled by exterior stimuli and more time in teaching ourselves how to regain control of our own thought processes through meditation, consciousness, and emotional awareness. Let’s be less scared of how at risk we are given our current health and fitness, and spend more time and energy in purposely changing our eating, drinking, and training habits.
We are in control. We are the ones making the decisions. Don’t be a wailer, don’t be a martyr. Find fortitude, find yourself. Build on good habits, build a new routine.
When have you had the chance to be one, two, or even three weeks at home with so much more time on your hands? Since high school or childhood, probably not very often. When this is over we are back to the grind, we are back to the “day-to-day”… wow, simply saying it makes me cringe. Do you want to go back into the world in the same place and state as you were in before? If yes, that is what I would call a drama queen. Yelling, crying, worrying, having opinions, and “deep” conversations while things hit the fan, but not really doing anything about it to come out a better version of yourself.
Look, let’s not beat around the bush, the only reason you are not doing anything other than following the path of least resistance is not because you are not smart enough, it’s because you are lazy, conformist, and not ambitious. If you are happy with that, so be it. You will not live, you will EXIST.
I refuse to exist and while I am not anywhere close to reaching my goals and ambitions, I am certainly putting in the time and the energy to get there. So, to the other people like me who want to LIVE and not merely exist, who want to BE the propelling force and not a follower, to those who ASPIRE to a greater version of themselves in all respects I say:
