Suddenly we all had a rude awakening. We woke up in the dark ages, and it’s just begun. The coronavirus brought fear and panic to every single one of us. This is the closest we will ever be to experience big historic tragedies if we are lucky. Our grandfathers dealt with World Wars and famine. Hopefully we won’t. But we have to persevere all the same.
While coronavirus is the obvious problem the sad reality is that there is little we can do, other than washing hands thoroughly, eat well, exercise if you can and keep healthy. Apart from that the next big danger is our psychological health. I can personally say that I’ve not been dealing with this fantastically. I did panic, especially last week, and lost it a little bit. But this is not productive, I understand.
I’ve been trying to identify my sources of stress and is obvious the biggest is the news I’m consuming via Twitter. On top of the news on Twitter there are all sorts of people yelling different things while I have no way knowing what is based on actual data and what is an opinion. It’s totally my mistake still being around. I tried to consume less twitter. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, I stopped reading the news obsessively. I pick two times in the day and read only reputable sources. It’s still bad. At this point the thing is that news won’t offer you any new information. If something good happens you’ll know immediately. Everything else is just extra negativity. We don’t need that, we have enough.
So what am I trying to do to find some balance? Here’s a few thigs that work for me:
- Read fiction and science fiction (my favourite genres). I just finished Good Omens and it was brilliant.
- I am doing some tutorials about programming languages that I always wanted to know more. I am now going through Learn you a Haskell for Greater Good. it’s something I was playing with several years ago and stopped doing.
- Picked up my guitar again. I know how to play a bit so JustinGuitar intermediate foundation is a good point for me to start working on.
- I am talking a lot more with my friends and family. I do need to be surrounded by love. I neglected that a bit in the past.
- Still going for runs and I am trying to work out a bit at home, since I stopped going to the gym.
Other than that I am still a bit numb. The world we grew up doesn’t exist anymore. And that might actually be a good thing. It might be a golden opportunity to change our perspective and finally focus on what matters. Live modestly, live sustainably, live surrounded by more love. Finally it might be a good chance to stop looking for enemies around us. It might be a good chance to treat every single one of us as a comrade rather than a potential enemy. Maybe we can build on that tragedy a more empathetic society.
Keep healthy. Call a loved one. Tell them “I love you”.