COVID-19 - Anxiety And Fear Is Contagious...But So Is Compassion.

Think of those who can’t go out and stockpile.

Think of the young parents.

The babies.

The elderly.

Think of neighbors, and friends.

Think family.

Think community.

Think of each other.

With each day that passes the number of humans testing positive for COVID-19 grows bigger and bigger. But it’s not only the virus that is growing...so is fear, anxiety, and panic. Every single person in our entire world is affected in some way by this Corona Virus.

Whether it has already found us,

is on it's way to us,

or at a distance...it infects our minds and actions way before it even enters our bodies.

This virus is more than the illness itself. Its reach goes much further than simply finding a host to attach itself to. Not only has it managed to cause a list of symptoms, we've allowed it to corrupt our emotions and rationality in its process. Even quicker than the coughs and the aches can reach us, fear overtakes our rational thought and before we know it we are all in survival mode.

Stockpiling goods,

rushing to grocery stores,

and even smothering ourselves in sprays, sanitizers, and disinfectants.

All of this has become our new norm. But if we could all find a moment to pause ourselves and really take a look at those empty shelves in the grocery stores,

the packed parking lots,

or a quick scroll through social media we would all start to understand the true reach of this intense virus.

Wednesday March 11th, as I stood at work and watched the students complete state testing on computers, the principal came over the loudspeaker and announced that all after-school sports competitions were cancelled. The students listened intently as they looked at me and the other adults in the room for reactions. He went on to say that all gatherings, events, and meetings were also cancelled . The first question that went through my mind was, “how am I going to answer the student’s questions, when I don’t really know any answers myself.” So I smiled as if everything was okay and that seemed to do the trick for the moment.

Sure, I could have begun panicking and ranting about how crazy everything was starting to become, but I chose calm...because the students were watching.

As the minutes passed, we started to hear news of more and more social gatherings outside the school being cancelled. Amusement parks, concerts, meetings, workshops, sporting events, community gatherings, all of it was being cancelled and with each new piece of information anxiety and fear began to creep its way into every student and every adult in the room. I began to realize that this moment was stage 1 of the virus: Fear and uncertainty.

Later in the day, I decided to stop at the grocery store to get a few items. Just in case...

As I entered the parking lot, I was cut off twice and bullied out of a few parking spots. I kind of settled into the idea that this trip was not going to be a smooth one. At the front door an employee was handing out sanitizing wipes, so this caused a long line to form just to get into the door. Everyone had either a concerned or frustrated look on their face. This is what I would call stage 2: Panic.

I tried to smile but smiling meant two people crowding me in line to get a hand wipe before the employee ran out of them to give. I decided just to be patient and let those who seemed in a hurry to move past me. Inside the store was even worse. People zoomed by with full shopping carts, walking past items and throwing them in as they whisked by. Kids clung to the sides of the carts as parents told them to keep up. I even saw senior citizens walking around trying to find carts to use. People just passed them by and seemed to be in their own world, worried about no one else around them. As I walked through, it was hard not to notice that the cash-out lines had made its way all the way to the back of the store. I exhaled, pulled my purse up my shoulder, and just started to make my way through the crowd. People didn’t want to move, I was bumped into more times than I can count, and people reached over me and in front of me to grab items as I tried to decide where to start.

I paused and looked around in an attempt to take myself out of the panic. As I stood there and watched, I could see what no one was paying attention to: Frenzy.

I felt like I was in the middle of a movie. I had never seen anything like this before, As I looked around, a mom’s yell broke my focus as she screamed at her two kids who were standing next to each other holding a spot in line as she gathered items. She yelled, “Why are you letting people crowd you!” She said it so loud that the brother just grabbed the sister and pulled her close. This mom was using her kids as place-holders in line and was clearly angry that they were not following her orders. People didn’t seem to notice this going on they just kept flying by one another all around us. I looked over at the front door and saw a young girl walking in holding a newborn baby. She had her wrapped up tight and covered in a baby blanket. She looked worried and went over to find a cart but there were none...

Stage 3: Acceptance and Adaptation.

Standing there I was suddenly aware that all of this was just part of the affect of the virus. I accepted that each of us in that store all wanted the same thing...and it was not really any product that was on the shelf.

It was safety.

We all just want to feel safe in our own skin.

We want to feel safe in our surroundings.

And we just want to keep our families safe.

I realized in that moment that this may be our new normal, and the only way for any of this to work would be for everyone to turn themselves into part of the solution. Because all around me everyone went back to that primal extinct of survival; and we all seemed to forget who was watching...the kids.

Kids are the ones we all aim to protect, they need to feel safe, and loved, and free from worry. Watching the faces of all the kids involved in all the chaos was hard to accept. But it helped me realize when we consciously slow ourselves down and think about everything happening around us, and we take ourselves out of the chaos we can choose to step back. Then and only then can we come up with a better way to protect ourselves and those we love the most.

This is a time when we have to spread more then fear...we owe it to the youth to spread hope.

we owe them a chance to feel safe.

The phase we need is: Compassion and kindness.

We can't control anything else, but we can control ourselves and how we react.

Worse case scenario, even if every single person were to acquire the virus, we would have to think of how we would re-group and cope. It's human nature, we always calibrate to survival. It's who we are.

We don’t have to be right in the process,

we don’t have to be loud,

we don’t even have to know all the answers...

All that matters in those very last minutes, is love.

Not products,

or viruses, or anger,

meds,

any of that.

All that matters is heart.

Let’s all load up on grace.

That is the real cure.

Viruses don’t care about color, about religion, about preference. They don’t care if we are over pre-pared or under-prepared. With a virus there are no boundaries, no age limit, no restrictions. All it needs is a life.

That is it's only requirement. We can’t see it, we can’t hear it coming, but we can slow it from spreading. We can choose to do what it takes to slow down its journey.

We can be the difference.

This time, the hero in this story is each one of us. 🖤

#KindnessMatters