In this time of mass chaos, panic, and pandemic, I’ve been revisiting some of what I’ve taught myself over the past years and months about fear. Specifically what it means to live when something you’re experiencing is causing fear in your life or the lives of those around you. I, for one, am working as hard at maintaining a positive attitude and a focus on helping those around me feel loved as I am at keeping my hands clean and my home safe.

Are you allowing the changing state of the world at large to change your individual state of humanity?

It is incredibly easy to give in to fear when the news both locally and globally seems as if it is focused on the rapid collapse of our health, our economy, even our society. Working in a public-facing retail store, I have not yet been given the news that we’re shuttering our doors, and so I’ve had a front row seat to the change in attitudes and interaction between customers and my fellow workers alike over the past few weeks. There is no doubt that, for those few people who are still out and about in the world, the general aura is incredibly subdued, even suspicious. People maintain their distance and seem to even be afraid to speak to those around them with the same sense of camaraderie as was commonplace even a week ago.

This makes me sad and worried for all of us on several different levels. Are we allowing the changing state of the world at large to change our own individual state of humanity? Or, have we as a society just become so unconcerned with humanity in general that this global state of chaos is bringing out the worst in us as individuals? I don’t, at the heart of my assessment, truly believe that we are experiencing a devolving state of humanity, but I think there is an absolute need for all of us to understand there is a positive way to handle the fear, and there is a harmful way to handle the fear.

What Are You Doing It For?

Believe me, I am as concerned with controlling the spread of the virus and maintaining the health of my home and community as anyone else. I am just as worried, if not more, about the economy, my career, and whether or not a global recession might cause other societal collapses we have not yet foreseen.

What I have a hard time swallowing, is how quickly it seems this situation has encouraged society at large to adopt an “every man for himself” approach to dealing with it. Yes, we should protect ourselves. But if we isolate ourselves from even sharing a kind word, or hurt those around us by hoarding supplies or failing to follow recommended behaviors, what are we doing to those who share in our predicament? What are we saving ourselves from by only looking out for one or two individuals?

Control What You Have Control Over

We will get through this. Of that, I am absolutely positive. In the midst of the worst of it, I believe we could all use a reminder: the only constant in life is change. Change for the good, change for the bad, anything you’re experiencing is truly only transitory. I don’t know exactly how these world events are going to play out. What I do know is this: when we do get through this you will have changed. The world will have changed. You will have to face your new reality when that happens.

Control what you can. Know that sometimes the only thing in our control is our mindset.

Stock markets and viruses might have the capacity to alter the state of society, but humans are the only ones with the capacity to alter their own state of humanity…for better or for worse. Most of us have little, if any control over factors on the world stage. In times like these, you can only focus on controlling what you can. Know that sometimes the only thing in our control is our mindset. Consider that your fellow humans (including yourself) are not, individually or collectively, setting out to negatively impact society. But, through the manifestation of fear and ignorance of how what you do affects other humans, some of us will do just that.

So, after the virus is under control, after the markets have stabilized, after we begin rebuilding from whatever state of chaos we ultimately sink into, there is an individual question you will have to answer for yourself. Are you ok with the way you handled the chaos? Did you allow fear to rule your life and threaten your relationship to your fellow humans? Or did you practice simple human kindness in the face of fear?

You don’t have to go out of your way to control your mindset and help someone else who is struggling. It can be as simple as staying positive, offering a genuine smile in place of a handshake. Maybe your neighbor could use some of that toilet paper you proactively stocked up on. Maybe your sick friend could use a videochat, since she’s not allowed out of her bedroom. Find a way to reach out to someone else in the face of fear, and I promise you it will not only help our society remain more intact, it will help you calm your individual fears and stay positive as well.

XOXO,