Panic Attack re COVID-19

Full disclosure: this pandemic gets to me. It has taken a physiological toll on me.

I watched it develop in China via Twitter in January and February. I went down numerous wormholes and my eyes cannot unsee what I saw. Citizen journalist accounts (now silenced by the Chinese Communist Party) revealed horrors and heroics. But it seemed distant and we in North America were safe. I wrote and spoke of the contagion and our urgent challenge of prevention then—to no avail.

So, the virus is now spreading globally—it is in our city and our neighborhoods. It will take the lives of people we know—perhaps our own. We just don’t know with this thing. It’s not just a threat to older and physically compromised neighbors.

Thus, the fodder for my panic attack earlier this week. It was terrifying. I’m grateful for some friends and temporary meds to get me through and over.

Daily, I challenge myself with basic self-care practices, which absolutely include serving and supporting others—some of whom are on frontlines and at high risk for our sakes.

We know what each of us—and all—can do to reduce infections and spread and care well for ourselves and—distantly, safely—for our neighbors.

Let’s take care. Stay put. Stay safe. Stay human.

Ten Commandments for the Pandemic

Ten Commandments for the Pandemic

1. Stay out of the way. Stay put. Maintain social distance. 

2. End or reduce unnecessary visits to the grocery, etc.

3. Lower all consumption. Conserve.

4. Exercise your capacity to encourage and connect with others distantly.

5. Demand government agencies and officials step up.

6. Support frontline workers.

7. Call out exploitative and negligent corporations and companies small and large.

8. Check in on your neighbors via phone, text, email.

9. Take a walk/bike ride outside. Steer clear of close encounters.

10. Wash or sanitize your hands before and after every contact. Be meticulous. 

Self-Care Bingo and other Coping Strategies Amid COVID-19

Not sure who to credit for this graphic called “Self-Care Bingo, but I like it.

It is one of numerous little things that help me in this time when my initial thoughts of the day have sometimes been “I wonder if today is the day I will contract this lethal virus despite my personal efforts of prevention?”

Weird thoughts. High anxiety. Disequilibrium. New high levels of cynicism regarding our government so-called “leaders.”

Then I see “Self-Care Bingo.” And stories of frontline workers. And efforts to support hourly-wage workers who have been furloughed. And investment in local artists. And under-the-radar actions by neighbors to care for vulnerable neighbors. And online concerts by musicians whose venues have been cancelled. On it goes with inspired and inspiring human capacity and creativity in the face of a global pandemic.

Believe in yourself. Believe in the good in others. Recognize and shun the capriciousness of some. Stay active. Stay put. Stay safe. Act compassionately while respecting needed social distancing. Follow the science, not the politicians. Stay human.

This will end. Let us all do what we can to help it end well.

COVID-19 Comes Near

So, COVID-19 is now a global pandemic. What once was novel and distant comes to our doorsteps—to our state, our city, our neighborhood.

I liken the feeling of its inevitable encroachment upon us to watching a radar screen of an approaching tornado or hurricane. It slowly develops at a distance and moves across the screen, growing in force, and soon it is too close for comfort—it is upon us, shaking our house.

I also think of the movie ‘Melancholia’, in which a planet or massive asteroid is visibly headed for a collision with earth. Catastrophe is inevitable. Knowing this, people in the story try to carry on, reacting vastly differently to impending doom.

This virus is not impending doom for all. Most will survive the contagion, we are told. But it bears death for many of us. That is its power. It has the ability to strike down not just elderly and physically compromised people, but the young and apparently healthy. Nobody knows who lives and who dies. The suffering for many is unimaginable—directly and indirectly.

Still, we act in hope of survival and for the sake of being human.

I hope to survive and to have stayed human.