The solution is to learn to gradually face uncertainty in daily life by easing back on certainty-seeking behaviors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Start small: Don\u2019t text your friend immediately the next time you \nneed an answer to a question. Go on a hike without checking the weather \nbeforehand. As you build your tolerance-of-uncertainty muscle, you can \nwork to reduce the number of times a day you consult the internet for \nupdates on the outbreak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anxiety rises proportionally to how much one tries to get rid of it. Or as Carl Jung put it, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What you resist persists.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Struggling against anxiety can take many forms. People might try to distract themselves by drinking, eating or watching Netflix more than usual. They might repeatedly seek reassurance from friends, family or health experts. Or they might obsessively check news streams, hoping to calm their fears. Although these behaviors can help momentarily, they can make anxiety worse in the long run. Avoiding the experience of anxiety almost always backfires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, allow your anxious thoughts, feelings and physical sensations to wash over you, accepting anxiety as an integral part of human experience. When waves of corona virus anxiety show up, notice and describe the experience to yourself or others without judgment. Resist the urge to escape or calm your fears by obsessively reading virus updates. Paradoxically, facing anxiety in the moment will lead to less anxiety over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Health threats trigger the fear that underlies all fears: fear of death. When faced with reminders of one\u2019s own mortality, people might become consumed with health anxiety and hyper focused on any signs of illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Try connecting to your life\u2019s purpose and sources of meaning, be it spirituality, relationships, or pursuit of a cause. Embark on something important that you\u2019ve been putting off for years and take responsibility for how you live your life. Focusing on or discovering the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153why\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of life can go a long way in helping you deal with unavoidable anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people fear how they will manage if the virus shows up in town, \nat work or at school. They worry how they would cope with a quarantine, a\n daycare closure or a lost paycheck. Human minds are good at predicting \nthe worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But research shows that people tend to overestimate how badly they\u2019ll be affected by negative events and underestimate how well they\u2019ll cope with<\/a> and adjust to difficult situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Be mindful that you are more resilient than you think. It can help attenuate your anxiety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Corona virus can be dangerous, with an estimated 1.4% to 2.3% death rate. So everyone should be serious about taking all the reasonable precautions a<\/a>gainst infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But people also should realize that humans tend to exaggerate the danger <\/a>of <\/a>unfamiliar threats compared to ones they already know, like seasonal flu or car accidents. Constant incendiary media coverage contributes to the sense of danger, which leads to heightened fear and further escalation of perceived danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To reduce anxiety, I recommend limiting your exposure to corona virus news to no more than 30 minutes per day. And remember that we become more anxious when faced with situations that have no clear precedent. Anxiety, in turn, makes everything seem more dire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During these anxiety-provoking times, it\u2019s important to remember the tried-and-true anxiety prevention and reduction strategies. Get adequate sleep, exercise regularly, practice mindfulness, spend time in nature and employ relaxation techniques when stressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prioritizing these behaviors during the corona virus crisis can go a long way toward increasing your psychological well being and bolstering your immune system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who are vulnerable to anxiety and related disorders might find the corona virus epidemic particularly overwhelming. Consequently, they might experience anxiety symptoms that interfere with work, maintaining close relationships, socializing or taking care of themselves and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If this applies to you, please get professional help from your doctor or a mental health professional. Cognitive behavioral therapy and certain medications can successfully treat anxiety problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although you might feel helpless during this stressful time, \nfollowing these strategies can help keep anxiety from becoming a problem\n in its own right and enable you to make it through the epidemic more \neffectively. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the Corona virus continues its global spread and the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,12,976,14,1100,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts-comments","category-events","category-life","category-politics","category-social-media","category-stuff"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","chromenews-featured":"","chromenews-large":"","chromenews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Being BOB","author_link":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"All Posts & Comments<\/a> Events<\/a> Life<\/a> Politics<\/a> Social Media<\/a> Stuff<\/a>","tag_info":"Stuff","comment_count":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p822aG-BH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingbobblog.com\/happy-holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/319207\/original\/file-20200308-64601-q333j0.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/a>2. Tackle the anxiety paradox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Transcend existential anxiety<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/319208\/original\/file-20200308-118890-1xnduv2.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/a>4. Don\u2019t underestimate human resiliency<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
5. Don\u2019t get sucked into overestimating the threat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
6. Strengthen self-care<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
7. Seek professional help if you need it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n