We are currently witnessing one of the most stressful contexts in history caused by disease, along with others such as the MERS, EBOLA, and SARS epidemics: the global pandemic and, with it, the virus of fear
Although the aggressiveness with which this COVID-19 has affected us is true, it is also true that the reality of the virus has not affected a very high percentage of deaths in patients without previous pathology.
However, we already know thanks to the team of scientists and health workers that the virus can correlate with five more pathologies, since patients with associated comorbidities had much higher rates (cardiovascular, respiratory diseases, hypertension, cancer, diabetes). The fundamental problem is the speed of its spread due to contagion.
Faced with such a situation, the world lives in fear and even panic Almost in the blink of an eye, we have been aware of our fragility. The uncertainty of our future worries us intensely. All our greatness and strength becomes smallness and weakness. We seek peace and serenity at all costs, without knowing where to find them. We are accompanied by the symptoms of fear, anguish, fear, panic…
Tachycardia, palpitations, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, tremors, sweating, digestive discomfort, nausea, vomiting, knots in the stomach, insomnia, irritability, muscle tension and stiffness, tiredness, feeling of dizziness… symptoms, on the other hand On the other hand, absolutely logical considering the seriousness of the historical crisis that we are suffering. That has nothing to do with weakness of character, rather with awareness and sanity in the face of the current situation. It took just over a week for the virus to shut down the economy and disrupt the supplies of thousands of families.
Nevertheless, The majority of situations that cause us fear are learned since, previously, they have caused us physical harm although also emotional, in such a way that we can automate our response.
In that sense, I believe that we have been well trained through leisure, and with it, through fear and suffering.
The brain process of anxiety generation
In our brain we have two small structures, the cerebral amygdalae, which constitute the main nucleus for controlling emotions and feelings and which also manage responses of satisfaction or fear. They, on many occasions, have “kidnapped” us emotionally. They have made us say things that we did not want to say and that we have later regretted, or they have dragged us by an emotion without us being able to direct our thinking rationally by controlling the emotion.
It is at that moment when our body generates adrenaline and cortisol being able to keep us “kidnapped” for up to four hours. It is what we colloquially call becoming “bad blood.” These hormones, coming from the hypothalamus, enter the bloodstream, “dirtying” the blood, causing the discomfort to last.
A good strategy for this type of situation is conscious deep breathing since it allows us to connect with our body and focus our attention on it, limiting this emotional kidnapping, activating our parasympathetic system and inhibiting the sympathetic system, causing a lack of self-control.
The need to adapt to a new reality
What to do at a time like the one we live in after almost two months totally confined? And with confinement extended a few times, and without knowing for sure for how much longer in the city of Barcelona, after the latest outbreaks experienced in the province of Lleida.
We are required to maintain a social distance of two meters, the mandatory use of masks, some schedules that we must comply with to avoid overcrowding and the coincidence with those of different ages, be they the elderly or children…
Added to this situation is the health collapse that we have witnessed in recent months and which seems to have a tendency to disappear, but… for how long?
It is said that 80% of the healthcare workforce is suffering from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. They have been subjected to countless hours, giving 300% of their capacity in the face of a war to which they went unarmed. A situation that we could describe as “burnout”, the best way to burn people out, increasing the work without offering the means to do it. The flashbacks that live today have to do with rooms full of dying people without adequate means to offer to others and not even to themselves.
The pandemic has not left the rest of us unscathed either. Adults and elderly people who have not yet gotten sick have not wanted to leave home for fear of being infected Infinite rituals to protect health and protect ourselves from others. Media that serve as modulation for our brain. Continuous washes. Covered mouths. Submission. Helplessness. Impotence. Suffocation.
To do?
It is necessary to understand that, from now on, we will live in a different life context. Technology imposes itself on us, it forces us to move forward and include ourselves in the social torrent of digital communication 5G is knocking on our door, paradoxically offering us its best side.
We cannot ignore that the stressful situation we are experiencing has generated a lowering of the immune system and the subsequent illness if we are not able to take intelligent control over this circumstance. We can experience responses related to “amygdala hijacking” in our fear of becoming infected
We are beginning to realize that although the virus is harmful, the anguish it is causing is much more so. We breathe in a psychological bubble created by alarmism (I do not downplay the danger of the virus) conditioned by the high impact, the high alarm capacity and the low reliability, together with the way in which the government authorities are being questioned.
Sometimes I have the feeling that our mind is being violated in order to prepare it for later events. Everything remains in our subconscious so that, later, although we do not remember exactly what we already experienced, we know how to react accepting the event without so much rebellion Now with more capacity to submit.
I think the worst lie they are instilling in us is that this will happen soon… and the solution they offer is confinement. We cannot ignore that fear ends up killing society. We hide from the virus, like the ostrich hides its head from danger, thinking that this way we will make it go away. We are left without social force.
Fear always binds us to death, and the only way to confront it is not to avoid it In other words: avoiding avoiding it. Anxiety is the platform for most of the diseases we have.
It is therefore necessary, in any circumstance, to take risks, even if these could lead to death in some cases. What is the point of living with a mentality of fear?
People are torn between those who decide to be the protagonists of their lives and those who decide to let life decide for them. In short, either we have the mentality of a master or we have the mentality of a slave, free or imprisoned.
We need to develop a mentality of courage It is necessary for us, therefore, to learn to live with the situation that concerns us, with cunning, intelligence and understanding, without mortgaging our future.
Let’s kill the virus of fear in us Let us resurrect courage despite uncertainty. And let us remember, as Kant already told us, that the intelligence of the individual is measured by the amount of uncertainties that he is able to endure. Only in this way can we live.
