What to do when you don’t know what to do
| Dunno about you, but I was a little tweaked last week. There’s most defo a Def Con 1 vibe in the air. Even here in Sydney, with only a handful of cases. I’m wary of giving advice – and people who give advice – so I just try to share what works for me. Here are some ideas that helped make me a slightly less freaked out creative pro. Emotional contagion is the real pandemic. Anxiety comes when I lose my centre. Once that happens, it’s a fear festival and the downward spiral begins.In war, the first casualty is truth. This may not be WW3 but I definitely feel under attack. It’s difficult to know who to trust but it’s important to establish the facts. Here are a couple of sources I trust: This piece gets into the math. The short answer: social distancing and isolation is not only effective but mandatory. For everybody. But especially for older and more vulnerable people. Each additional day we wait to isolate ourselves will have a vast impact on thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of lives. It’s better to do it too soon rather than too late. This piece argues for the moral responsibility incumbent on all of us to limit contagion as much as possible. The greatest danger of coronavirus is not the virus itself but the over-burdening of the hospital systems. Radical self care To function properly, I need a healthy mind, body and spirit. Now for me, fit spiritual condition and good mental health are one and the same. Both call for a decision to be centered in chaos. Both require I choose the emotional tone of my life. Both demand I seek an external power source. Working my morning routine helps me stay grounded in the familiar. I’m up early to pray, meditate, call my sponsor in Nashville at 515AM, hit a 7AM meeting and plan my day. I drop a bunch of supplements and guzzle coffee with ginseng root. I eat breakfast after my meeting. For the last month or so I’ve been fasting 18-20 hours a day. I know I’m going to feel happier post breakfast and look forward to that the way I used to hang out for the pubs to open. Routine creates stability in an unstable world. It means I can start each day asking, “What is my intention for this day? What’s important? What matters?” That gives me clarity. It makes me better at sifting out distractions because I can constantly refocus on what is important. One thing that I’m challenging myself to do, is not complain. I love to rant, rave and ridicule. But my mind listens to my mouth. My body reacts to what I say. My situation isn’t nearly as bad as most peoples. For that I’m grateful. Recovery and faith have given me a big spiritual toolkit to navigate life. It contains one power tool…. prayer. St Paul said, “worry about nothing. Pray about everything.” I’ve come to realise that’s not such a bad idea. I can pray or I can panic. Right now, if I’m not praying, I’m panicking. My pastor reckons you can worry or worship. If you’re not worshipping, you’re worrying. Invite worship in the front door, worry goes out the back door. I try and get to church at least twice a week and can definitely feel the hit it gives me over and beyond recovery. It helps me focus on what’s important. The meta narrative. That’s vital because I typically worry about the wrong things. I worry about the little stuff: how I look? how I sound? what I say? am I going to be late for this meeting? Every time I worry, it’s a warning light. A sign that I’m playing God. I’m acting like God, thinking that it all depends on me. Faith is the opposite of fear. I can’t change the future. I can’t change the past, so I just work on today. There are two days of every week I should never worry about: yesterday and tomorrow. The central idea in recovery is one day at a time. When you worry about tomorrow’s problems, you miss all the joy of today. It’s okay to plan for tomorrow. It’s okay to plan for the future, just don’t worry about it. My sponsor says, “fear is going into the future without God”. The future can often seem overwhelming. Fortunately it’s divided it up into 24 hour segments so I don’t get all the future at once. It’s delivered 24 hours at a time. My favourite scripture is “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Here’s a vid from last Sunday on fear vs faith. And for the more secular minded, here are some ideas from the Greater Good Science Center on how we can protect our mental health at this time. Offence is the best defence The clearest path to motivation for me is action. I’ve decided to focus on who and what works… on the primary drivers of business… what moves the needle most. I’m going to execute my plan and double down on the three to five things that work the best… like staying in touch with my network and reaching out. I want confidence and momentum. Everyone’s a little tweaked right now. And what gets you tweakier than money going away. We’re still pros… we’re still gonna come back. There’s still work to do… this isn’t a plague. This isn’t death forever.This isn’t war. We’re not throwing in the towel. We’re gonna take a second and regroup. Stretch. Relax. Enjoy the down time. My grandparents were called to fight in world wars. I’m being asked to wash my hands and sit on the couch. If you’re bored of Netflix, here’s a free training on pitching. Or if there’s anything else I can do, let me know and say hello. Be great to hear from you. Stay healthy. |
