First the disclaimer: I am not by any stretch of the imagination a health expert. What follows are my own personal thoughts on pro-active action we can take to assist this situation.
This is not a time to panic. Panic leads to over emotional uninformed, unintelligent decisions. Choosing not to panic however is NOT the same as choosing in-action.
With any trauma it is our suggestion that you take informed pro-active actions…
Ultimately this is an unprecedented situation. Some would call this a crisis and a crisis demands adaptation. To adapt, we need to work on our Resiliency and there are typically two blocks to Resiliency
- Learning Resistance – Unwillingness to accept what happened
Signs: Denial, burying head in the sand, retreating, unwillingness to accept reality, running from reality, obsessive rumination, consuming a lot of energy reading social media updates etc.
What needs to happen to move on: Accept you cannot make it unhappen. Accept reality. Take a look at this post from someone who currently has Corona Virus in Spain. The reality ain’t pretty… https://www.facebook.com/paul.brooks.3576/posts/2859674540765943
- Learning Defiance – unwillingness to adjust to what happened
Signs: anger/ outrage, you ruined everything, unwillingness to adjust or cooperate with life experiences which happened, rebelliousness (I won’t adjust), opposition
What needs to happen to move on: Willingness to move to survivor mindset vs. remain in victim mindset – willingness to adjust. Being open to learning. Can’t control what happened but can control what happens next.
The Bottom Line is we must all as a planet surrender to this virus and adapt our lives accordingly. The sooner we adapt and surrender, the sooner we have the opportunity to contain the outbreak.
Here are some tips for getting ahead and not panicking during this crisis…
1: Pick your news sources
In this era of multiple and personal news channels, choosing who you listen to might be critical.
Everyone has a view, and many people are distributing those in ways that wouldn’t have been possible in previous decades. As always, the most dramatic messages attract the most ‘interest’, they may not however be the most accurate.
I would warn against news aggregators, unless you can configure those to control what the sources are. I would suggest you take a more pro-active roll in your news choices.
That said, you may decide to pro-actively that news aggregators provide a broader range of opinions. Whatever you do, please make a pro-active decision.
Here is a very good article of what Sina Farzaneh discovered whilst in self-isolation in China. There are some great tips here for adapting to the changes the virus demands: https://medium.com/@sinajahn/lessons-from-a-coronavirus-refugee-8cb245fca061?fbclid=IwAR3YNYv3Rn7gCM3IS3yDGixb5hxdgMEk6n4qFS0uhuhfJ_-c5TdjbzYFiUs
Here are some news agencies, and information providers you may wish to refer to:
- Xinhua – China, in English
- Reuters – USA
- Al Jazeera – Qatar
- BBC – UK
- World Health Organisation
The following links are links to specific articles from with WHO that you may find of benefit (assuming you feel they are a suitable source of advice):
WHO: How to use masks
WHO: Basic protective measures
2: Symptoms
It goes without saying that if you have any viral like symptoms you follow the best medical advice. At the time of writing that is likely to include self-isolating.
Procedures are different from Country to Country, and probably day-to-day. Check your local authorities for directions, and the steps to follow.
3: Act smart
Be good to yourself and to others.
Make bold, brave, and inconvenient steps to reduce your exposure.
Doing so will not only reduce your chances of contracting the disease, (and this may be the most important) you will also reduce any risks of you spreading the disease. Remember it is possible to have the disease for some time before experiencing ANY visible symptoms.
You may not be in a social group that has a high risk of death. Take steps to positively reduce the spread.
Wash hands:
I have personally turned to the BBC for what I consider to be a legitimate news worthy source of information. Here is a 20 second video showing how to wash hands correctly to help stop the spread of the virus.
At risk of stating the obvious, washing hands to protect against a virus is different to the every day way you’ve probably been washing your hands (unless you are a surgeon) for years.
You will need;
- A suitable cleaning agent, such as hand soap
- Paper tissues for drying
- Waste paper basket close to hand with a closed lid
- Discipline to relearn a new habit
It’s hard to change our habits of a like-time. So even if you are at home, even if you believe you have not come into any contact with another person, wash your hands the right way every time throughout the crisis, it’s good habit forming.
Set a recurring alarm:
Wash hands regularly. I’ve taken to setting a count-down timer on my mobile phone to remind me to wash my hands every 2 hours. At the very least it’s a good reminder. And to get myself into new and better habits, I needed a tool like this to remind me.
Distance, greetings, gloves:
I have again turned to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for advise here, if you do not consider this a reputable source, please pro-actively find another.
Reduce outings and begin social distancing:
Consider;
- Can you do that workout at home instead of the gym?
- Can you order food online rather than do a daily visit to the supermarket?
- Can you buddy up car-runs (shopping, school-runs etc.) with a neighbour? Taking the trips in-turn will reduce exposure by half.
- Can you do that meeting online, rather than in-person?
4: Keep moving forwards:
This challenging time will likely need some re-adjustment by us all. Perhaps changes in our habits, in our goals, or in our careers.
Embrace the changes, you are a highly capable, highly flexible intelligent machine.
You’ve got this!
5: What I do know for sure…
The Corona-Virus will have significant repercussions across three major areas of our life;
1: Health
2: Wealth, and
3: Mental-wellbeing
6: Support others
Let’s be vigilant, please help support and love one another through this.
Does a neighbour or family member need help?
7: Support for yourself
How can we support you more – let us know?
As a company that helps people get over trauma, we are here to help. For this reason, I have put together a rapid-intervention program for anyone who is experiencing debilitating fear and stress with this COVID-19 crisis and wants support in overcoming that stress and getting your head back in the game. All proceeds will be donated to the primary global organization fighting the spread of the virus: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/donate
You may have some challenging situations to deal with, difficult decisions to make. You don’t need to go it alone, contact us for support.
Stay safe
Adele
