OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF COVID-19

Reopen COVID 19 cases are spiking around the country. Is it just a blip or is this the start of what's being called the second wave?

More than 1/3 of the total COVID 19 cases in California have been detected in the last two weeks.

A new spike in cases among young Texans shows everyone is at risk. Beijing has raised its COVID19 emergence response level and reimposed some drastic disease control measures after a new cluster of infections emerged in China's capital.

Are you afraid of coronavirus? Of course. Everyone is afraid of coronavirus these days, right? With so much chaos and misinformation, it is only normal to be fearful. But how do you conquer those fears? Those who conquer this fear will come out of this unharmed. There are two kinds of fears. One, fear that inspires caution. Two, fear that provokes panic. Unfortunately, most people are gripped by the second kind of fear. Let's look into how to move away from panic towards caution. Some fear is necessary in dangerous situations so that we stay alert until it passes. Do you like adventure sports? Did you ever surf? When you do that, there is fear of drowning as well as the fear of those big waves of the ocean. But you overcome it by staying alert and also by learning how to surf, right? You see, fear helps you learn, be smart and enjoy the sport. If you know how to take advantage of it. One day you will be fearless. You know what you're getting into and you learn how to handle the situation. And actually you can still enjoy, even though it is a difficult situation, even though it is a dangerous situation. I want you to take the same approach with the coronavirus. And there are three ways to do it. Number one, learn the facts, use your intelligence, differentiate the myth from truth and look for scientific facts as much as they are available. We definitely know much more about coronavirus now than before, right? So we also know now how to slow the spread of the virus, flatten the curve. And we have done it already in some places. If you look at the scientific evidence, if you read some of the articles published by the World Health Organization, it shows that 81% of people who get the coronavirus, their symptoms are mild or actually they don't have any symptoms. That's good, isn't it? But maybe 15% of people get more severe disease and they ultimately recover again. That is good news. There are only 5% people who are really critically ill. And out of those 5%, maybe 1 or 2% will die, unfortunately. But if you look at the statistics, a vast majority of of people just do fine so don't imagine a fearful future. Don't succumb to fear. So I personally treated many COVID 19 patients and 99% of them recovered. You know, I'm not saying that, you know, everyone is going to have the same experience, but I'm just saying that I'm happy that most of my patients did well. So if you look at this, the chances are much higher for you to do well, recover from the coronavirus than actually getting really sick. So do not imagine a fearful future. It is not worth living in fear constantly. And the worst possible future that you're imagining in your mind may never come to pass. Overcome the fear of death. All the panic that we are seeing in the world is because of the fear. Fear of death. But tell me, why should we fear death? Those who fear death are dying every day in their mind because of anxiety, panic, worry. All the panic that we are seeing in the world right now is because of the fear of death. But tell me, why should we fear death? Those who are afraid of death die every day in their mind because of anxiety, panic, worry. But those who are courageous die only once. Decide who you want to be. I know that is a heavy statement, and here is what I mean by that. Go spiritual. Conquer the fear of death. Take control of your destiny. We humans are spiritual beings with a body, not the other way around. That means you are more than the body. You are the consciousness. You are that intelligence that permeates this universe. You have that unlimited potential that you can unpack from within to face any kind of challenge that you are facing. Know that life and death are temporary phenomena. The living suffer more than the dead because of the fear of death. For the wise, death is nothing but the next journey and the dead are already at peace. Once we overcome the fear of death, the panic and the parade of craziness that we are seeing stops. Things can be done in a more orderly fashion. We need to act like soldiers in the battlefield now. We can sulk in sorrow during these times. We need to be strong. We need to just keep marching forward. And that is how we win this battle against this pandemic. We can definitely win if we stay strong, remain calm, and think rational. Let us not be paralyzed by fear. Let us actually paralyze the pandemic by taking precaution, by thinking rational and doing what we got to do. So my third recommendation. Let go of negativity. We need to start focusing on the positive side of the pandemic or else we are going to die of panic before the pandemic. Passes. The beautiful thing is that our reality changes based on the information that we focus on. And we have that power within us where we can focus our minds. Let's use that power to our benefit. And so how do we do that? Constantly focusing on the bad news is only going to make you feel worried. So ration the amount of news that you watch. Just 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening is typically enough to get all the important information that you need. Avoid social media frenzy. Avoid all those pessimistic discussions and inflammatory posts out there on social media. Stay positive. Stay optimistic. Discuss good things that uplift you. Share success stories that give hope to others. Choose reliable sources of information. Take one day at a time. This world is not coming to an end because of COVID I can guarantee you that. Stay strong. Stay hopeful. After the pandemic passes, you'll be thinking, is it all. Is it the reason why I panicked all this time? I just unpacked a lot on you on how to conquer the fear of corona. I would definitely recommend you watching this video at least twice. And here is a quick summary of how to conquer the fear of corona. 1. Learn the facts. Use scientific evidence. Differentiate myth from truth. Number two. Overcome the fear of death. Know that you as a human being is more than just this body. Number three. Let go of negativity. We all have the power within to choose positivity over negativity. Use that power.