No matter who you are, where you are or what you do the last couple of months have been nothing but corona virus all day, every day. And as much as this submicroscopic agent has biologically infected scores of humans around the world, it has infected oh so much more than that. It has infected and affected liberty and freedom, it has infected the media and it has infected umpteen minds, innumerable hearts and incalculable spirits. The corona virus has infected our lives. Whether you had it or not. Whether you are afraid of it or not. Whether you believe all of it or not. Frankly, whether you wanted it to affect you or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how<\/strong> it affects you and to what ends<\/strong> is one of the only freedoms you have left. That is the<\/em> supreme liberty, and nobody can take it away. It is during such times of anxiety and despair when the wisdom of Frankl must be listened to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything can be taken from a man but one thing: <\/strong><\/em> So as we here in South Africa, and around the world, edge closer to the conclusion of the harshest version of state mandated lockdowns\/shelters in place, you are confronted by this choice – <\/p>\n\n\n\n How are you going to re-enter and re-engage with life beyond confinement? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is ultimately this choice…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you going to choose fear or not?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because fear kills too<\/strong>. Point blank, living in constant fear of getting the corona virus only makes you more susceptible to actually getting it. Hell, you may even already have it and not even know it! In \u201cfact\u201d, or as close to one as there is in such fluid times, having it and being just fine is a far more likely scenario than dying. Studies are showing that anywhere between 50%, 75%<\/a> and 88%<\/a> (!) of COVID-19 positive patients have been asymptomatic. So not only not dead but no respirators, no coughing, no sniffles, no nothing. Now, the point here isn\u2019t do not fear because maybe it isn\u2019t actually that bad<\/em>. This is the point – WHY?<\/strong> Why are the majority to the vast majority of infected humans technically sick but not actually sick (let alone dead)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The immune system.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The OG first responder<\/strong>. Human beings have always evolved hand in hand with our microscopic friends and enemies from the viral and bacterial world. As a result, the human anatomy is naturally equipped with a system of defense to fight teeny tiny invaders before they explode into illness. Ever heard someone say, \u201cI haven\u2019t been sick in forever\u201d. That\u2019s real. Sure a little showoffy, but a real thing. And it\u2019s not because these people live in a bubble and their bodies have never met a virus. That’s impossible. It is because their health aka their immune system is in such stellar standing that any pathogenic invaders are put to the sword<\/strong>. Dead on arrival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fear compromises your immune system<\/strong>. I don\u2019t need to cite scientific studies, this is a well established reality. It\u2019s been known for millennia across continents and cultures. It was wisdom long before morphing into a psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology scientific fact. And it\u2019s really pretty simple. Being afraid spikes cortisol. Chronic fear, stress, concern anxiety, panic, hysteria drowns you in cortisol. At a certain tipping point too much cortisol significantly reduces the production of immunity cells that fight off viruses. Et voil\u00e0, being endlessly afraid of dying from the corona virus means that even if you are unlucky enough that those tiny scoundrels get into your system, you are significantly more likely to be a symptomatic patient rather than what was the statistically more probabilistic outcome of being asymptomatic. I hope you followed that. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n Basically, fear weakens you<\/strong>. Being afraid of a virus actually makes you more likely to “get” a virus. Your fear kills your viral fighting foot-soliders before any virus has even had a chance. One can then legitimately ask whether it is the virus that makes us sick or whether it is we who have already sickened ourselves<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps we truly do have nothing to fear <\/strong> Because life happens. Shit happens. Apparently, pandemics happen. Which in no way whatsoever trivializes anything and everything that has transpired. People have died from this virus, or by their own hands. Countless more people\u2019s livelihoods, perhaps yours too, have been lost as collateral causalities. These are very real things. Tragedies. Chaos. And yet, if your heart still beats there is just one question – what\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the process of reintegrating with one another and life itself unfolds it\u2019s up to you, it\u2019s your choice<\/strong>, whether you are going to get back to living or continue living afraid. If that is even living. Are you really never going to shake someone else\u2019s hand again? Never give or receive another hug? Writhe in terror with every sneeze and cough? No more nights out? No more restaurants, yoga classes, festivals, concerts or stadiums? What will life become if we are all forever afraid of one another? Suspicious of one another, spying on one another? If we see each other as enemies rather than as brothers and sisters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life is a human experience So our real choice is actually fear or love<\/strong>. Yes, please, do be prudent. No need for recklessness. But do not panic<\/a>. Don\u2019t even be fearless, for fearlessness is fanciful. Now is the time to choose courage<\/strong>, not<\/em> the absence of fear but the conscious acknowledgement of that fear followed by a mindful choosing to take action anyway. To live anyway<\/strong>. Viktor Frankl not only survived the unimaginable horror of the deadliest Nazi concentration camp he emerged a stronger and wiser soul. If in the depths of genuine terror, a situation far grimmer and scarier and deadlier than any of us now finds ourselves, Frankl could fashion for himself the strength to choose courage, love and the hope of a better future surely you and I are almost compelled to choose likewise. It is to our peril if we do not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is the choice presented now to each of us. And I\u2019m choosing to say fuck fear. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to get sick from the corona virus or not. Just like I don\u2019t know each and everyday what is going to happen. I choose not to consume the gushing stream of fear mongering in the news because you are what you consume<\/a><\/strong>. I don\u2019t know how the world is going to look once this is all said and done. But I do know that all of us have some choice in the matter<\/strong>. It\u2019s up to us if we really are all in this together, in this thing called being alive, if we are going to literally, physically re-commune and re-connect in the ways we need to to live a genuinely good human life<\/strong>. Or whether we\u2019re going to run afraid and disconnect from one another, nature and our nature even further than we already have. Well, not me. I choose to live life. Risk and all. Uncertainty and all. It’s never been any other way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, you\u2019re up. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Time to choose. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo by Tonik<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclaimer: \u201cEverything can be taken from a man but one thing: to choose one\u2019s attitude in any given set of circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n How are you going to re-enter and re-engage with life beyond confinement? <\/p>\n Are you going to choose fear?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,37],"tags":[90,91,92,93,47],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","category-life","tag-corona-virus","tag-covid19","tag-fear","tag-nothing-to-fear-but-fear-itself","tag-viktor-frankel","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
the last of the human freedoms – <\/strong><\/em>
to choose one\u2019s attitude in any given set of circumstances.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
but<\/strong> the paralyzing, self-sickening response to fear itself<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and it cannot genuinely be lived without other humans. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elemental human choice.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Remember dear reader, I am neither a doctor nor any sort of medical physician in any capacity. None of the information presented above can be construed as any sort of medical advice in any sort of manner. You as the reader is solely responsible for creating and implementing your own physical, mental and emotional well-being, decisions, choices and actions. As such, the reader agrees that the author is not and will not be liable or responsible for any actions or inaction taken by the reader or for any direct or indirect results. This information is simply presented and whatever you decide to do with it is your choice and your responsibility. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nthe last of the human freedoms –<\/p>\n