Calm Your Churning Mind

Minds are little balls of fascination that can store our knowledge and memories but can also churn faster than we can process thoughts.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ~ Albert Einstein

Pandemonium Does Not Need to Create Panic: Think Your Way to Calmness

These new times for us, we have faced other flu's that were epidemics but this one seems to be bringing our country to a halt. With all good reason, to keep it from spreading. I have been trying to maintain a let’s stay calm and handle this attitude, but it is honestly wearing on me. I understand that the new cases are only because we now have access to testing and expect that rate to rise. However, I am not prepared for the economic shut down. I had just recently started a new job to better my health, unfortunately they have shit doors for a minimum of two weeks. I will admit the first few days I spent facing silent depression sitting on the couch watching senseless TV and making sure my girls were happy. On the inside, I started churning, mainly my mind. Once it got going there was no slowing it down. We did a quick shopping trip with our tiny budget and got a few staples, but of course there was no toilet paper in sight. I mean I never ever imagined being stressed over no toilet paper, yet here we are. I wonder why some people act the way they do, buying more than they need, taking advantage of others and the younger ones who think its ok to hang out on the beach in dozens. I mean, did the CDC just say hey for fun lets limits groups to 10, this is not some social experiment like the Purge, though at times I kind of wish it was so natural selection would play out. Ok that was dark, but a good insight to where my mind is right now. I had to tell myself over and over last night at 4am, Pandemonium does not mean Panic! I finally lulled myself off to sleep ay 613 this morning.

Many say the news is fear mongering, which is partly true, but if we aren’t following the ques and rules to control how are we helping. We are creating that fear mongering because the news stations are showing us doing the stuff we shouldn’t be doing. So are we feeding the fire to the fear mongering, I believe we are. We need the news so that we can see how bad this can be and how bad it is for many at this very moment. Many are starting to compare to the general flu, while yes it affects many and kills just as many, they have created several vaccines. This is a new strain that they are not familiar with, so no vaccine exists and that is what makes it scary, combined with its rapid rate of spreading. Someone posted about the other flus, avian flu, Ebola and the swine flu saying they all could have done this too. So, I looked up the percentages for swine and it was .001-.007% death rate in which 4000 Americans died and over 22 million had it. But we had Tamiflu to treat it and the COVID19 there is not treatment. Then I remember to when my oldest daughter was still going to school during this outbreak and 6 girls on her guard team came down with swine flu and they simply had to sit on the sidelines. My daughter luckily has a very strong immune system, we always said she was a tank when it came to getting sick, she never got sick. She low and behold was a carrier, had the sniffles and fever for one night. No big deal I thought, until her 7-year-old sister got the swine flu. Her fever was so bad, and she was so sick that her Dr wanted to put her into the hospital but thought she would only get worse in that setting being susceptible to other illnesses. Because I was dating a firefighter at the time, he said keep her home and you both take shifts watching her. She slept on the couch for 9 days, crying in pain, barely eating. We had to search high and low for any remaining Tamiflu and finally found a pharmacist at CVS that used to work at a mom and pop pharmacy and knew how to compound the Tamiflu into a powder and mix it with the children’s flavored liquid. I started remembering this and it brought fear, what if one of us gets it. I have lupus that has gotten worse and she had been relatively healthy, but I can’t risk another episode like that. It almost killed her, she lost 8 pounds and spent 9 days in the same pajamas on the couch sipping broth we forced her to drink.

So, I had to calm my churning mind on the what if and many people have not experienced that and think this is overreacting. Then I think of friends who are immune suppressed or have kids that are and my heart breaks. BY us breaking rules and wandering around town we are ultimately putting other people, possibly our family at risk. Yea I can keep my 6-foot distance but do people read the news articles that it can leave for days on stainless steal surfaces. Do you really think retail stores have the time to run behind every person washing the stainless steel down while restocking the toilet paper shelf for the 12th time in a day? We need to be smart in order to calm our minds and calm the pandemonium. We are creating our own panic and with all given right but now I need to learn how to calm the churning mind.

I read this quote above from Albert Einstein and it made me think, we are truly in control of how we perceive and react to what we hear but the way we think. I must change my mindset, the way I think to say ok this is what can happen but if I do this, we can prevent it from happening. I am also keeping the reality that no matter how much we do the right thing there is a slim chance it can happen and then we deal with that when it does. So, let’s promote more positive thinking, reassure the ones who are having a difficult time processing this. Be extra kind, help another out when we can. By changing our thinking patterns and ways we can start to create a calming of the churning, so we aren’t all running the streets screaming in fear. I know I need this, and I will spend my day trying to do breathing exercises and believe it or not limiting my OCD behaviors such as organizing because that only feeds into my churning.

Today, reach out say hello to an old friend, ask them how they are and let them know that we are all in this together. We can help change our way of thinking by going back to the basics of being kind. Email or message a long-lost friend and talk to each other on how we can help each other through this. I guess god must have heard my desperation last night because he sent me this exact thing this morning. We cannot calm our minds if we are isolating our thoughts.