Sunday Story…Fitness in the Time of CoVid 19

Here we are. Sitting at home, all alone, trying to figure out what to do, what’s next, whose fault is it, who to blame, when will things go back to the way they were…blah, blah, blah. We are living in interesting times.

How many pandemics have you lived through? Do you know? What exactly is a pandemic anyway?
A pandemic is simply an epidemic that got a passport and an around the world plane ticket. Ebola is not a pandemic because it remains relatively localized. The current CoVid 19 is a pandemic because it has moved persistently around the world.
There have been several pandemics in my lifetime…at least 4 since 1956. Most of them I had no idea about. Scratch that, in the last 60 years this is the only pandemic I can remember.

Why is that? How is it that this one is so paramount to all of us? Simply put, it is the information process. We all read the news. Whether it is Twitter, Facebook, Fox, or MSNBC we are inundated by information. And some of that information is wrong and some of it is actually misinformation. Too often when we read the news we are not becoming well-informed we are being emotionally exploited.

Because of that, the problem is not misinformation, the problem is fear. Fear makes people pay attention. Then they can be exploited. There is never a good decision made out of fear.

Look, Coronavirus is serious but panic is optional. Disconnect yourself from the culture of outrage, panic, and fear. Fear is what drives us to be mean to each other. It divides us and fuels all the negative thought processes...like racism, misogyny, homophobia and all the rest. When we are fearful we are much more susceptible to fallacious arguments and biases.

Here are some concrete things to do to manage or eliminate your fear:
Curate your information downloads. By that I mean you need to only spend a limited amount of time reading or listening to information about the crisis. Call it 15-30 minutes a day.
Next, make sure you are getting unbiased information as much as possible. In other words information free of opinions and bias. Just the facts, ma’am.

Fear does not get to hijack my brain. Perhaps the media has failed in its responsibility to provide honest, factual, and timely information. But it is my job not to fail in my responsibility to be an informed citizen.

Again, coronavirus is serious but panic, fear, terror, and worry are all optional. Choose a better option.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412