Coronavirus – How to Have Clarity and Perspective

Just so you know, this post contains one virtual/online therapy blog post link. Meaning I received payment for its inclusion in the post. I feel this site will support those suffering from mental health issues related to the current Pandemic, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful.

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EPISODE 88 – PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

PLEASE SEE UPDATED STATEMENT ON MY VIEWS AROUND THE ‘PANDEMIC’ HERE

Hi there, welcome back to Kelly Martin Speaks. I’m your host Kelly Martin and this is episode 88.

Well, I didn’t intend to do a podcast episode on the Coronavirus because I have already written two blog posts on coping with anxiety during a pandemic and also the potential for huge change in the world because of Covid-19, but I realised that sometimes a soothing voice is needed in the middle of a pandemic and I also thought to myself it would be important to keep things in perspective and share some ideas on how to deal with everything that’s happening.

First of all, I want to say one main thing, if you are scared right now, acknowledge it. Acknowledge it as if the fear were a small scared child needing your support right now. Hold it in your heart, don’t try and get rid of it or push it away, equally so don’t cling so tightly to it that it becomes even bigger and impacts you even more.

I say this because I have done both.

As someone who is fairly intimate with the experience of anxiety and panic attacks, like many today, this whole global experience is very triggering for me and because of this I have to be super vigilant in what I take in, how I respond and how I take time out to find the calm inside the inner storm happening.

Last night when I went to bed for example, I was pretty calm, very sleepy and as soon as I lay down to sleep a huge wave of panic came over me. I couldn’t breathe, my heart was pounding, I wasn’t even thinking about Coronavirus but eventually I realised this was not my fear.

You may find if you are super sensitive right now you are naturally picking up on the growing fear that is gripping most countries. And so, what I did was I simply called for back-up. For me I just called on some angels, you may call on God, Goddess or simply love, whatever you feel is the most comforting and I asked for protection from this wave of energy, because as an empath I pick up on so much as it is.

I then turned to face the fear. I could have run, I could have switched my light on and distracted myself by scrolling through the internet, but I turned towards it. I repeated a message I heard on the news recently by a street performer in Italy when asked how he felt about what was happening there and he simply said:

“The situation won’t change if you worry or don’t worry. I don’t worry”

And I repeated this to myself.

Seeking The Truth

Now anxiety aside, we are all being inundated with news, sources of fear and panic, mainstream media is being pretty awful right now, not encouraging people to maintain calm, but instead fuelling people into extreme panic. As most of us will have seen, with panic buying and not being able to buy toilet rolls and other essentials, it is becoming commonplace, in the Western world especially.

So how do we have clarity and perspective when in the middle of this. For example, if we are worried about potential changes to our everyday life, not just health, but limits to our freedom that may occur.

Firstly, we recognise that this is temporary. We have compassion for the fear that is arising within us. We remind ourselves that it is natural to be scared and that it is okay, that whatever we feel right now, is okay. No human emotion is wrong, ever.

Now how do we get clarity when we are inundated with different sources of information and many people don’t know what or who to trust for the truth.

For me I am choosing to primarily take in information from the World Health Organisation and Public Health England. If you are in other parts of the world you will need to find your official sources for support and information. And while the main message is simply good hygiene, washing hands etc… I do think social distancing, as hard as it can be with the knock-on effects in society, is going to be the main way to slow down the virus.

The fact is, what is happening worldwide from all walks of society, be they rich, poor, old, young, no matter who you are, no matter what side of the political arena you stand on, this is all about control. And more so our ability or inability to let go of our need to control.

I see governments and people using terms like ‘Going to war on the virus’ and well…if you have been following me for long enough you will know my thoughts on this. Anything we go to war on simply increases and intensifies. So, if we go to war on the virus, if we go to war on poverty, go to war on repression, go to war on drugs… you name it, whenever people say they are going to war, it never helps, ever.

I think it is far healthier to simply say, this is an unknown virus, this is a deeply uncertain time for many people, this experience is out of our control so what do you do when things are out of your control?

You surrender.

Surrendering Control

And in this case, you surrender to what you feel, what you see, what is happening and what you need to do keep yourself safe and as healthy as possible.

You surrender to the fragility of the human body.

You surrender to catching the virus or not catching the virus.

You surrender to limits on your freedom.

You surrender to potential financial challenges for a time.

You surrender to the fear with compassion, acceptance and love.

Surrender is not a bad thing, it does not mean you give up. It simply means you accept the nature of this world, that everything changes, always, and we never had control, we never had the ability to stop the flow of change. This virus has just come as a wake-up call that we need to do things differently. We need to see our fellow humans differently. We need to think about how this virus happened and what practices brought this about.

We need to get clarity on how this virus could be mirroring humanity’s war with itself.

Like the sun, beyond borders this virus goes and I think many of us may not realise, every single day we are surrounded by viruses, we have viruses within us going undetected. Our body deals with them and we get on with our lives. And yes, sometimes a virus comes along that is uncontrollable, doesn’t have a vaccine, doesn’t have a cure and life, the human body, the immune system and the way viruses change as they move forward, deals with it.

The Virus Will Change

This virus will change, at some point it will lessen, nothing stays the same forever and no intensity of experience stays intense forever. It’s natural for everything to reach a peak and drop off.

So, for now all we can do is ride the wave.

We ride the wave of anxiety.

We ride the wave of unknown.

We ride the wave of health issues that may arise from this.

We ride the wave of loss.

We embrace uncertainty because Covid-19 is literally encouraging all of us to face fear, to face life and to make new choices.

It is helping us find new ways to embrace our changing reality. It is not easy, yes, but change never is.

It encourages us all to slow down and to recognise our own mortality and as they say the biggest fear there is, is fear of death. ALL FEAR is fear of death. And I also think we often fear fear itself.

So we can face this by curling up in the corner and hiding completely from the world, or we can feel the fear, face it and embrace it, take steps necessary to support ourselves and our families, prepare, acknowledge and accept.

This is all we can do, we can’t control this, but we can surrender, have faith and trust in the unfolding – whatever that unfolding entails for you, it is personal for your life journey.

Much love to you and your loved ones during this hugely changing and challenging time on planet Earth. Don’t forget to choose life, even if your life feels limited for a while. Find ways to see what is working and what is beautiful still, focus on the calm that is still there in nature and ride the wave.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Kelly Martin Speaks

If you have a question or topic you are struggling with and would like me to answer on an upcoming podcast episode, please get in touch. Your name will be confidential. EMAIL me at kellymartinspeaks@gmail.com or message me on Facebook via my page Kelly Martin Speaks.

And don’t forget, if you feel that others are passing you by and ‘The Not Good Enough’ voice is screaming loudly, pop by kellymartin.uk to find out all about my books, including Book 1 ‘When Everyone Shines but You’

You can also support my channel via my podcast page on my website kellymartinspeaks.co.uk via Paypal or buy me a coffee via ko-fi.

Until next time…bye for now

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