Most of us feel that uncertainty is ruling our lives. If you’re laid-off, will Congress continue to pay extra in unemployment? If you’re working, will my job continue, or will I be laid-off? If you have children, will they be able to go to school this year? If they go, will they get sick or bring it home? The list goes on and on. The things we used to be able to count upon aren’t there anymore. We have suddenly become vulnerable. The source of all these things is COVID-19.
The question is, why do we feel vulnerable? It is the newness of the situation. It threatens us. Usually, our fight or flight reaction kicks in, and we can resolve the problem quickly. This time the cause of our vulnerability is something that we can’t even see or feel, but it threatens us – even with the possibility of losing our lives. How can we deal with this? I have a suggestion. A long time ago, I was a soldier. I knew there were people out there who wanted to kill or maim me. I decided that I could deal with that because I would serve my time, and then I’d be out of the area and out of the Army. There will be a time when this virus will no longer frighten us because we will have a vaccine. It’s not something that’s going to rule the rest of our lives. It will come to an end.
Vulnerability is there because we are alive. We might get in a car accident. We might unexpectedly trip and fall. We might…There are thousands of “we might.” We take precautions, so they don’t happen. We do what we can so they don’t happen, but we also have something we needed at this moment – courage. It is possible to be afraid and have courage at the same time. I’m sure if you think back in your past, there were moments where you were afraid and yet had courage at the same time. There are times in your childhood when you are scared of something, but you went ahead and did it anyway. There are many things we did as children that frightened us at first – like climbing the big ladder up to the top of the slide and then going down. What at first, was frightening, became fun. It was your courage that led to that fun.
Remember that COVID-19 will past into your history like many other things. Be prudent and take the precautions the experts suggest. Believe in your courage. It’s been there in the past for you, and it will be there for you now!
