Hey there,
Dr. C here.
I had a fun talk with Dr. Tom Moorcroft yesterday. Of course, we covered COVID-19 in good detail. Tom has had a focus on infectious disease for a few decades and had some good insights to share. After the talk, a question that came in was how do I seem to be so calm all the time. The person asking the question was struggling with anxiety which she is finding to be much worse in the current crisis.
I’m not always calm. I don’t consider myself a gold medalist in emotional management. I do think I am good at acting on emotions when they are needed and acting despite emotions when they are not needed.
Anxiety, stress, edginess – let’s collectively think of them as fear. They are a group of emotions that are in response to anticipated danger. They are future-oriented unlike depression, regret, sadness, and shame which are more past-oriented. As such, fear is a gift. Fear keeps us alive in moments of crisis.
There are times in which the anticipated danger is imminent and warrants immediate action. These times are rare in modern life. But they can happen.
What is the best response to fear? First, identify if it is a new fear or an old one. If new, does it warrant a response of some sort? If so what is it? Think through that response and do it.
If it is an old fear, do you have a response in place? If not, create one. If so, evaluate your existing response. Is it adequate? If so, there is nothing to change. If not, adapt your response so it is adequate.
You can imagine it like this flow chart:
