This battle of the mind has everyone rattled.
By
Updated 4 years ago,December 4, 2020
You have to gowheretomorrow?
Not a freckle moved on her face.
Lisa Fotios
She stood frozen, staring at me.
Into the office, I repeated.
We need to shoot this video for the company about the virus stuff.
She rattled off her concerns.
The two of us swapped best practices.
Yes, I would take in gloves to handle the equipment.
Yes, I would stay away from people.
Yes, I would carry hand sanitizer.
We started self-isolation several days before the rest of Tennessee.
We didnt want to mess around.
Now, I was going to risk her life for a video?
The hours passed as we distracted ourselves with chores.
Later that night, the message came through.
I could stay home.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief.
I exhaled as well, but some part of the back of my brain threw a fit.
A part of me wanted to face the danger head on.
Every episode, you say Dont do that, you idiot!
Without fail, he attracts trouble.
Itfeelslike hes doing something.
Right now, none of us have the luxury of aggression.
We cant go gun down this threat.
When those fight or flight hormones are kicking, your body wants to sprint or punch something.
It doesnotwant to stay indoors, waiting for the problem to go away.
This internal warfare is uncomfortably fitting for this generation.
Up until now, mental illness was the fight of the decade.
The World Health Organization now says1 out of every 4 people are affected by such an affliction.
We were just starting to find solutions for some of those afflictions.
Globally, we started to acknowledge endless scrolling isbad your mental health.
Find mental healing away from the screen.
Now, with COVID-19 rushing across the globe, we cant do any of those things.
We are indoors, accompanied only by the very devices that cause many mental problems in the first place.
Is staying inside with all our creature comforts objectively harder than, say, rushing beaches in France?
Empty grocers do not compare to blood and bullets.
As I joked to my wife last night: Your granddad marched for General Patton.
Im annoyed because Kroger only had this chewy lean turkey.
But there is, of course, no point in comparison.
We can only look forward.
Our ancestors fought battles of the body.
We are fighting a battle of the mind.
Soldiers trained for war.
We have zero preparation for this.
Physical warfare is brutal.
Staying indoors to go to war with an invisible enemy is also difficult.
Its okay to struggle with what is happening in the world right now.
You will have bad days.
You will get cabin fever.
You will start to despise your favorite shows.
Consider those feelings the battle scars of our generation.
Wear them with pride.
Take a deep breath, and keep breathing from sunrise to sunset.
you’ve got the option to live through this.
This article was originally published onPS I Love You.
