Trixie Pollock

Just like many of you, I’m anxious. The world is an uncertain place and I have a hard time understanding, adjusting, and coping. I’m trying to keep a cool head and I’m looking for ways to ease the tension in my body. What I’d like to do here is share my attempts to take care of myself and others. What I hope for is reactions and stories from you.

When I’m faced with a problem I like to break it down into smaller parts. First, I need to understand what is happening. Once I have a grasp of that I figure out small steps how to deal with something.

So, what is happening? Note: I’m not an expert on anything at any level, what you’ll read here is what I’ve gathered from different news sources around the world:

• There is a contagious virus loose in the world
• There is no vaccin and immunity is not 100% proven
• Countries are closing down in different ways, but the measures taken resemble each other
• The reason for (partly) closing down is mainly to keep the health care going. There are only so many health care workers, beds in the ICU, respiratory equipment in a country.
• Another reason for closing down is making sure that not too many people in other vital professions are sick at the same time: garbage will still have to be collected, electricity/water/gas will still have to be provided, hospitals will have to be cleaned
• Some experts are assuming (based on previous virus outbreaks and what they’ve learned from the Corona virus, so far) that herd immunity is a possibility. This herd immunity is not the primary reason for governments to partly close down their countries, but it could be an additional effect. Again: there is no proof of 100% immunity yet.

The existence of this virus and measures your country has taken, will affect you. And this is the source for the anxiety, at least in my case. What are the things I’m afraid of?

Things that most of us probably  suffer from at this moment (in no particular order):

• Health scare: “will I get this Corona virus, if so, how sick will I get?”
• Family and friends scare: “who will suffer from this, physically, mentally, financially and who needs (my) help?”
• Society scare: “will we go through this as a (global) society or will we disintegrate?”
• Solidarity scare: “what will happen to the financially vulnerable people in the world? What will happen to the refugees who are stuck inside camps?”
• Money scare: “how will I be able to pay the mortgage, groceries, gas, electricity, water, if this quarantine continues?”
• Future scare: “what will the world look like after this?”

Looking at this list, I realise it seems I have no control over any of these scares. And that is probably why many of us feel anxious. When things are happening to you, what can you do?

It might feel you can’t do anything, just sitting there and taking it. That is definitely my instinct. What I want to do is stay in bed, watch reruns of Friends, and try to ignore the outside world. Yes, I know, a very cowardly reaction. When I think of the health care workers who get up everyday (if they’ve slept at all) and do their dangerous jobs or members of our governments who work tirelessly to make extremely difficult decisions for a whole country or the creative solutions (small) business owners come up with to serve the public and stay afloat themselves or the wonderful projects individuals start to help people in their communities, I feel stupid. 

How to take control:

• Accept the situation. This virus is here now and it leads to protective measures and big consequences.
• You have control over not spreading the virus by social distancing.
• Breathing exercises, at least 3 times a day: there are many free ones online or, my favourite: Headspace.
• Choose a maximum of 2 respectable news sites and check them only once per day for no more than 10 minutes, in total.
• Choose an activity you find soothing: reading, listening to or making music, writing, knitting, making or playing board games.
• Create a routine: get up, shower, eat regularly & healthy, if allowed: take a walk outside or exercise inside (there are many free workouts online), work/study/read/write/listen to music.
• Check in with your loved ones. Can you help them by listening/joking or talking?
• If allowed and your health and age permits it: see if you can go out and help others in your community. Find neighbourhood apps or put notes in mailboxes. You can go shopping for people or simply talk to them and listen to their anxieties and stories.

These things work for me, but not all the time. There are moments (when the day is ending and it gets dark or at 3 in the morning) when I feel some or all of the scares I wrote about, and the panic strikes. These are the moments I would love to hear from you. How are you doing? What are you doing? And is there anything I can do to help you