"He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers because he fears” – Michel de Montaigne.

This pandemic has made us all very afraid. The invisible virus that has been stalking the land is leaving suffering and death in its wake. It has shut down cities, countries even. It has strained relationships, making strangers out of friends, and ensuring strangers remain strangers.

This plague has brought us all to grips with our own mortality that we are too scared to do the one thing that makes us alive, living. The authorities now discourage living the hitherto normal and all the things that make us who we were. I also get a sense that they discourage hope under the guise of being realistic. Perhaps they fear that hope will make us reckless but it is in these uncertain times that we need hope most of all; infinite, stubborn hope.

Those not infected are still not completely immune from the effects of this plague. I have not been to work in many weeks. The regular get-togethers I so much cherished with friends and family were we got to enjoy each other’s actual company is now a no-go. Before you say, video chat, I will tell you it is not really the same thing for me.

Life wasn’t perfect before Covid-19 but we lived it best as we could. A distinct sense of dread now constantly lingers in the atmosphere. The designated vulnerable class among us is always contemplating a fate that is best imagined. The fear pandemic has made some of us so “Covid-phobic” that they are avoiding hospitals altogether which has in turn led to an unfortunate rise in incidents of home deaths cases. Recently, New York City was recording 200 home deaths a day.

When or how all this will all end is something no one can say for sure. But it will end, this I am sure. Historically pandemics have ended in two ways: medically, when the rates of infection and death go down either due to treatments, immunizations or herd immunity and socially, when people just shake off the fear, do away with the restrictions and begin to learn to cope. Although the experts say it too early to tell which end will come first, I think the social ending is beginning to manifest with the growing opposition to the restrictive measures from ordinary people, businessmen, and even politicians. Coping trends like “quaranteams” and “Covid bubbles” seem like good examples here.

Facing the fear
For me, the fear is just as bad so I have chosen to vanquish it. We cannot control the events that are unfolding around us but we can at least control how we react to them. The fear will no longer control my every waking minute or how I spend those precious minutes.

One of the most nourishing things for fear is ignorance. So I will stay informed but from trustworthy sources. I will pay special attention to developments in my immediate community so I can always act informed and responsibly. Those over sensationalized social media messages that only seem to just perpetuate negativity are now banished. They feed the fear.

end: https://link.medium.com/dHJrFDx6I6

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