Finding Calm in a Time of Crisis: A Retrospective Post

I wrote this post at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic. While updating older blog posts, I noticed that I never scheduled it for publication. The fear we felt at the height of the event has passed. However, the information in this post serves to help as the energy on earth ramps up between 2023 and 2027.

There will also be another crisis to solve. Contrast is essential to the clarification process. Pay close attention to your emotional reaction to challenging circumstances. You always have a choice as to how to react.

As the energy intensifies (quickens), we will see what appears to be a "repeat" of past circumstances in different subject areas. It is not a repeat. It is a new situation so that you can further define what you want in life. Clarity is born from contrast.

Avoid falling into the victim mentality where it feels like something is happening TO you. Shift your understanding that experiences are happening THROUGH you, meaning you get to decide how you perceive them.

April 2020:

The streets are empty. In some countries, wild animals roam the street freely, and grocery shelves are empty. The few people who venture out wear masks or head coverings and stay far apart. Will life ever return to normal?

What's not to fear, right? I mean, it's tough to believe life will ever return to normal. You can't believe this is your reality.

Fear is all-consuming. You know this about fear. You've had a lifetime of practice. Not only does it hijack your mind, but its effects are also felt in your body: tense muscles, sick feelings in your gut, nightmares, anxiety, and sleeplessness. 

Fear takes you down roads you never thought you'd find yourself. You can't wish it away, no matter how hard you try. And you've tried. What is happening in the world?! It feels like you're living in a bad B movie, and zombies should be roaming the streets.

COVID-19 is all anyone can talk about. You can't get away from it, and it's freaking you out. It's shaking the world to its core and challenging how you thought the world worked.

It's so easy to feel fear in a pandemic. It's natural, almost obligatory. If you're human, if you care, then you worry. Right?

But what if it's not natural to feel fear for long durations? What if it's a reaction we've been taught and has become normalized but isn't natural?

What if it's just as possible to feel centered in a crisis as it is to be thrown off kilter? It might take a bit more focus, but only because looking away from what is unwanted, especially in a crisis, is difficult.

You want to stay on top of the news to make sure you have all the latest information. It makes you feel responsible.

But it also makes you feel terrible, hopeless, and scared.

As quickly as that thought came and went, you have another thought: on some level of your being, it won't reduce your fearful feelings to be so "on top of things." Maybe this global crisis is the perfect time to stop your habituation of fear.

Continuing the relationship with fear will only make your feelings of insecurity worse. You want to stop. It hurts to be scared. 

But what are you supposed to do? It's a global crisis. You want to help. You want to stay informed. You want it just to end already.

Fear won't stop the virus from spreading, that much you're sure of. That could be the place to start: logic. Fear won't make you feel better. Fear won't reduce your stress level. Fear won't keep you safe. Fear won't help others.

It won't. You know this, logically. But ... how to stop the cycle??

You're aware you're facing an important choice. You can feel it. It's big. You decide to stop feeling so scared about this, that, and everything.

This decision looks like this: stop checking the news cycle, the negative group texts with friends , and the social media updates because ..... when you focus on them, it all seems worse. You decide to move away not because you're irresponsible and not because you don't care.

You just know deep down that you can't do both. You can't focus on what you don't want and feel good about it. You have to look away and find something else to think about, to do, that feels better.

So you do just that. You choose something else because it makes you feel better. You take a walk in the fresh air and sunlight. You take a nap. You pick up that hobby you didn't have time for before COVID-19. And you start feeling better.

In feeling better, you're doing the whole world a service. It doesn't stick the first day, but you continue to try. And you make progress. That's the critical thing: movement in the direction you want to go.

You have to keep reminding yourself that feeling good is more of a service to others than feeling bad. When you feel bad, you have nothing to give. You're empty. No one ever solved a crisis by panicking. This is logical. You believe in this thought. It makes sense to you.

But what if more stuff goes wrong? Then you remember that it might not. It might go right.

That thought feels foreign (it's not a usual thought). You text your friends to share positive ideas, and no one responds. They can't seem to get on board. They're too busy being scared. You realize you're pretty much alone in your choice to be calm.

But you also know, intuitively, that this is okay. It's okay that some can't find peace in a crisis. But you also remember that it only takes a few to find solace for the whole to benefit. A few who find calm within the storm can be the beacons of light for others.

You decide that this is what you want to be: a beacon of light in a time of hardship. This is what you want; this is what you need. It won't be easy, and you'll slip sometimes. It's okay. Moving toward what you want is worth the effort: feel better more often. Even now, in a time of crisis.

You need the peace of mind that comes with choosing to follow your inner guidance. So, you make the difficult choice not to follow the daily news cycle, not to add to dialog to fear-based group text, and to stand in a place of love for anyone (including yourself) who finds panic easier than calm.

You can do it. You go this.

To work with Allison on transforming fear, visit www.allisonsutter.com to learn more.