Chronicle of the announced death of a virus

We are currently witnessing one of the most stressful contexts in history caused by disease, along with others such as the MERS, EBOLA, and SARS epidemics: the global pandemic and, with it, the virus of fear.

Although the aggressiveness with which this COVID-19 has affected us is true, it is also true that the The reality of the virus has not affected a very high percentage of deaths in patients without pathology previous.

However, we already know thanks to the team of scientists and health workers that the virus can correlate with five more pathologies, since the patients with associated comorbidities had much higher rates (cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, hypertension, cancer, diabetes). The fundamental problem is the rapidity of its spread due to contagion.

• Related article: "The 16 types of fear and their characteristics"

The contagion of fear

Faced with such a situation, the world lives in fear and even panic. Almost in the blink of an eye, we have been aware of our fragility. The uncertainty of our future worries us intensely. All our greatness and strength becomes smallness and weakness. We seek peace and serenity at all costs, without knowing where to find them. We are accompanied by symptoms of fear, anguish, fear, panic ...

Tachycardia, palpitations, chest tightness, shortness of breath, tremors, sweating, digestive discomfort, nausea, vomiting, stomach knots, insomnia, irritability, muscle tension and stiffness, tiredness, feeling dizzy... symptoms, on the other hand, absolutely logical considering the seriousness of the historical crisis that we are suffering. It has nothing to do with weakness of character., rather with awareness and sanity in the current situation. Just over a week it took the virus to stop the economy and break the supply of thousands of families.

Nevertheless, Most of the situations that cause us fear are learned since, previously, they have caused us physical damage but also emotional, in such a way that we can automate our response.

In that sense, I think we have been well trained through leisure, and with it, through fear and suffering.

The brain process of anxiety generation

In our brain we have two small structures, the cerebral tonsils, which constitute the main control core of emotions and feelings and that also manage responses of satisfaction or afraid. They, on many occasions, have emotionally “kidnapped” us. They have made us say things that we did not want to say and that we later regretted, or they have made us dragged an emotion without being able to direct our thought rationally by controlling the emotion.

It is at that moment when our body generates adrenaline and cortisol being able to keep us “kidnapped” for up to four hours. It is what we colloquially call becoming "bad blood." These hormones, coming from hypothalamus, pass into the bloodstream "dirtying" the blood, causing the discomfort to last.

A good strategy for this type of situation is conscious deep breathing, since it allows us to connect with our body and focus attention on it, limiting this emotional hijacking, activating our parasympathetic system and inhibiting the sympathetic system, causing the lack of self-control.

The need to adapt to a new reality

What to do in a moment like the one we live in after almost two months totally confined? And with confinement extended a few times, and without knowing for sure for how much longer in the city of Barcelona, ​​after the last outbreaks experienced in the province of Lleida.

We are forced to have a social distance of two meters, the mandatory use of masks, some schedules that we must comply with to avoid overcrowding. and the coincidence with those of different ages, be it the elderly than the children ...

Added to this situation is the health collapse that we have witnessed in recent months and which seems to have a tendency to disappear, but... even when?

It is said that 80% of the health body is suffering from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. They have been subjected for an infinite number of hours, giving 300% of their capacity in the face of a war to which they went unarmed. A situation that we could describe as “burnout”, the best way to burn people, increasing work without offering the means to do it. The flashbacks that we live today have to do with rooms full of dying people without the adequate means to offer to others and not even to themselves.

The rest of the mortals, the pandemic has not left them unscathed. Adults and the elderly who have not become ill have not yet wanted to leave the house for fear of being infected. Infinite rituals to protect health and protect ourselves from others. Media that serve as modulation for our brain. Continuous washes. Clogged mouths. Submission. Helplessness Impotence. Suffocation.

To do?

It is necessary to understand that, from now on, we will live in a different life context. Technology imposes itself on us, forces us to advance and include ourselves in the social torrent of digital communication. 5G is knocking at our door, paradoxically offering us its best side.

We cannot ignore that the stressful situation we are experiencing has caused the system to decline. immune system and the consequent disease if we are not able to intelligently control this circumstance. We can experience responses related to the “amygdala sequestration” in our fear of getting infected.

We are beginning to realize that although the virus is harmful, the anguish it is causing is much more so. We breathe in a psychological bubble created by scaremongering (I do not underestimate the dangerousness of the virus) conditioned to much impact, the high alarm capacity and the low reliability, together with the way in which the authorities of the government.

Sometimes I have the feeling that our mind is being violated in order to prepare it for later events. Everything remains in our subconscious so that later, even if we do not remember exactly what we already lived, we know how to react accepting the event without so much rebellion. Now with more capacity to submit.

I think the worst lie they are instilling in us is that this will happen soon... and the solution they offer is confinement. We cannot ignore that fear ends up killing society. We hide from the virus, like the ostrich hides its head in the face of danger, thinking that this is how we will make it go away. We are left without social force.

Fear always ties us to death, and the only way to confront it is not to avoid it.. In other words: avoiding avoiding it. Anxiety is the platform for most of the diseases we have.

It is therefore necessary, in any circumstance, to take risks, even if they could lead us to death in some case. What's the point of living with a fear mentality?

People debate between those who decide to be the protagonists of their lives and those who decide that life decides for them. Ultimately, either we have the mentality of a master or we have the mentality of a slave, a free or imprisoned.

We need to develop a bravery mentality. Therefore, it is necessary for us to learn to live with the situation that concerns us, with cunning, intelligence and understanding, without mortgaging our future.

Let the virus of fear die in us. Let us resurrect the courage despite the uncertainty. And let us remember, as Kant already told us, that the intelligence of the individual is measured by the amount of uncertainties that he is capable of supporting. Only then can we live.