Fear

Fear - an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

Panic - sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.

Anxiety - a mental health disorder characterized by feelings of worry or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one's daily activities

Today, there is a lot of fear and panic in the world. You may even be feeling it too. From health threats to unstable financial times to empty grocery store shelves to closed movie theaters, our world today feels drastically different than it was just 30 days ago. How do fear, panic, and anxiety play a role in making these uncertain times feel even worse to us? They all play on our thoughts.

So what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about all of the many ways you can be exposed to coronavirus? Are you thinking about the many “what if” scenarios that tend to end in disastrousimages in our mind? I’m not saying that we don’t have to do our part as far as following restriction guidelines, avoiding large crowds, washing your hands, and staying away from people if you feel ill. We have to remain responsible and make intelligent decisions to maintain our health and the health of our loved ones. However, worry and living in fear will definitely not help you through this crisis.

Strategies for Working Through Worry and Fear

1. Think: When our fear is activated, we’re likely to have thoughts that terrify us even more.

a. Reassess the likelihood of danger. Fear will convince us that what we’re afraid of is really going to happen.

b. Reassess the severity of the threat. Sometimes the thinking error we make isn’t about how likely a negative outcome is but how bad it would be.

c. Challenge irrational fears, such as “I can’t find any eggs in any grocery stores. We will starve!”

2. Act: Change how you respond to situations that make you anxious.

3. Be: Mindfulness provides several ways to manage our fears, through both focusing on the present and accepting what cannot be changed or what we do not have control over

a. Train the breath. Our breath is closely connected to our anxiety: slow and even when we’re at ease and fast and sharp when we’re afraid. Notice how you feel. Breathe in slowly and out even more slowly.

b. Focus on the present. Anxiety grabs our attention and pulls it into the future. With practice, you can train the mind to come back to the present. Use your senses to bring you into the moment, really paying attention to what you see, feel, hear, smell, and taste.

c. Direct your attention outward. Panic leads to a focus on ourselves-our anxiety symptoms, our heart rate, physical sensations. Mindfulness helps us focus on what’s happening in the rest of the world. For example, we can notice what they sky looks like right at this moment, or the shape of a tree we’ve seen a thousand times but never really noticed.

d. Accept that what you’re afraid of could happen. Focus on what you can control.

e. Embrace uncertainty. Let go of what you cannot control. It is not helpful to hold on to it.

* Remember that fear and panic are contagious. Just look at the grocery stores right now. Please find a way to cope with your fear on your own and not spread it to another.

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” - Anonymous