Six weeks into the enhanced community quarantine, the idea of starting this blog was born to serve as my recollection of this pandemic’s mental haunting and to put up a virtual space for a vision- a world without panic.
Panic /ˈpanik/
noun
sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior. (source: https://www.coursehero.com/)
Under pressing situations, panic is among people’s normal reaction not just because it’s intentional but out of the desire to survive and still be in control. The brain, having sent signals to release adrenaline, brings one to a state of high alert where rational thinking is thrown out of the window.
When you panic, you lose sight of what’s right because you are letting fear go over you. Your thinking is based on how to escape rather than dealing with the situation. Is there really a way to defeat panic amidst COVID-19 pandemic?
Like any other issues, the answer lies in one’s capability and willingness to get out of the panic state. It is worth noting that the support from individuals surrounding a person is another factor that could strengthen or weaken his or her chances of coping. (At this point, we can only cope from the situation as there’s no cure yet for this virus)
It’s not rocket science that the most rational and popular way is to first know what we’re dealing with. Then, to gather reliable information through research or from trustworthy sources on how to tackle the issue. Third is to seek help and cooperation from parties involved to form a plan (household members) . Communication with these people is key to, if not eliminating, but controlling the panic on a manageable level. Lastly, to follow the guidelines and constant evaluation on how the plan is being carried out.
For a family who’ve always stock on the basic necessities pertaining to hygiene (mostly, soap, hair care products, laundry detergents, toothpaste.) that last us up to a month, the only task left was to buy foods that are healthy, most of which are vegetables and fruits. Since we always buy perishable supplies that last for a week, there’s no denying that we still have to go outside, otherwise, we must get by with the canned goods or frozen cuts to delay that.
Putting that thought away from my mind (because I know very well, I’ll be that person who will have to go out!!) I, then, started to read more about the virus from reliable information. Sometimes, reading too much on your newsfeed makes you gradually paranoid of the situation, so for my peace of mind, I only read articles from WHO (World Health Organization) and highly recognized health and news institutions. The same reason why I didn’t believe our neighbors chit chatting that the virus is airborne. (Note that the droplets are too heavy to get farther than 1 meter when transmitted via sneezing or coughing, thus physical distancing is enforced). Even our kids are taught about the new adjustment mostly why they can’t go outside in the meantime.
Our plan is simple, only one goes out to buy what we need, s/he comes home and cleans up before interacting with us. Also, we keep the house and ourselves clean. Our first week was spent mostly on cleaning our floors and slippers. We never took them off before and it was quite a challenge going around the house barefoot. Now that we’ve gotten the hang of it, we are now enjoying the clean floors because we can play or even lounge there a lot.
Now that all aspects have been covered, we still can’t blame ourselves if we still haven’t calmed down. This pandemic is bigger than us. All of our efforts, even, combined won’t be enough unless the authorities come up with a better solution on flattening the curve. Knowing who’s gotten it is the closest we can get to stop it while no vaccine has been formulated to completely destroy it. The mass testing, while already on its run, will not tame any hearts’ worries, until it’s freely made accessible to all people from different social classes. Not until it’s a privilege, needing a monetized exchange that the majority can’t afford, a COVID-19-droplet of panic will always be one-meter away from our mouths.
