No doubt what I am about to write would earn me the removal of my social media account were I to put it up there, but that’s kind of the issue, isn’t it.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people are reacting lately with increased levels of emotional response out of proportion with the size of the supposed issue. Not one to just consider something without at least a decent source of information, I spoke to a friend of mine who is a psychologist to get their take on it. He reckons it’s linked to heightened levels of anxiety due to the current situation we’re in. The levels push your active state into more of the fight/flight state. Beyond those two states are actually 2 more where you start to freeze up and become unable to do anything. An unknown/unseen threat is likely to push you across those lines faster than a known/seen one.
It was during that discussion that I realised that we’ve been given ‘the old one – two’, a double-tap, a pincer movement – make your own analogy.
Outside your house is a threat. An unseen and relatively unknown threat. It’s a disease about which no-one can really agree on its level of danger, with wide ranges of symptoms (not all of which are official), and you don’t know who has got it. It might give you nothing, or flu symptoms; it might kill you, and everything in-between at a roll of the dice.
It’s a threat that is raising your levels of anxiety, stopping you from going outside and interacting with your family, friends, co-workers or society in general. You have been shut down, or at the very least severely restricted in what you can do.
But not to fear. We live in a digital age, where we can interact, socialise and do business online. We have an outlet for our conversations and discussions, our interests and our thoughts.
Only, now it appears that certain large tech companies seem to have appointed themselves the arbiters of free-speech. No longer can you say what you think; or even have a discussion on the merits of two sides of a position. You’ll be cancelled, shadow-banned, kicked off, Doxed, hounded and peer-pressured. And who knows what discussion topic that’s okay today is going to be ‘verboten’ tomorrow. It’s an unknown. Here is another threat, a somewhat unseen (although becoming more visual over the last week) and unknown threat that could kill your business, your reputation, your social standing, your relationships.
We have been given the old one – two. They’ve stopped you going outside and living your life. Now they’ve stopped you inside your own home, and your own computer too. How long before they get in to your head as well?
So my point here is that I don’t have the answers. I’m asking for suggestions of how we can stop this double-pronged anxiety attack from pushing us from an ‘active’ state to a ‘fight/flight’ state. And how can we pull back those from the ‘frozen’ states into some semblence of normality?
Over the next week, perhaps consider how often your emotions tip into a disproportionate response to an issue; or how often you’re being pushed from ‘active’ to ‘fight/flight’.
Thoughts in the comments please.
11 replies on “Give ’em the old one – two”
My suggestion to anyone suffering from fear/anxiety of the unknown is GROW UP! Life is terminal, and worrying about when the end will come is unhealthy. None of us get out alive. If someone cannot accept that advice, then I recommend that he go find someone else who cares to listen to the whining.
Being of an age above 50 years old, I’m in one of the higher risk groups, and I have consistently refused to comply with lock downs, outdoor masking requirements and isolation mandates. I work from home because my employer requires it. I am considerate of business’ expectations of face coverings on their clientele because I don’t want them to be fined into oblivion. However, I will not comply in my own home; and if our tyrannical governor, Michelle “Wujan” Lujan-Grisham mandates vaccinations or masking in my own space, then I will tell her exactly where she can stuff them both.
Fear/anxiety of the unknown can be debilitating if one lets it be so. I refuse to allow it, and I recommend to all who listen to do the same. Life is too short to worry about the next bus hitting you in the street — Covid-19 is no different. Whining about it all achieves nothing but ulcers and high blood pressure.
I, for one, have taken time to analyze where I’m willing to fight, and where I’ll back down. Most places, I’ve chosen not to where a mask, and I’ve not met resistance. One place I went to had a sign that stated they were hit by a fine by OSHA. Out of respect for the small store, I complied. That said, there are areas where I absolutely refuse to comply. Just as an example, if the FBI, ATF, or any other alphabet-soup agency came to take my guns away, I’ve made the decision that they can have them… one bullet at a time. I’ve faced death a number of times, and have come to peace with it. After a lot of thought, I have drawn my line in the sand, and have come to peace with that as well. Once you’ve made peace with your decisions, the path becomes easier.
Your lines in the sand are basically my lines in the sand as well. Some of my friends also have the same lines in the sand.
Perhaps at last, we’ve had quite enough of being bossed around.
Of the people I know and love dearly, I sincerely hope my brother wakes up soon. Maybe he has… I really should get him to talk about current events. We usually don’t, because he’s pretty Left and I’m solidly on the Right. We don’t want to argue or break our friendship with one another. But he lives in NYC and at last I heard him quietly say a few months ago that he was sick of the mayor.
What puts you in position to scold other people for their emotions? Is the way they are feeling disrupting your feelings? Is the air so clarified on that high mount that you see more clearly than us plebes on the ground?
I have zero fear of the virus du jour. I do think it is reasonable to be rather anxious regarding what our public servants are serving us. We can’t all be Ghandi.
My thoughts are generalised. Not speaking to anyone in particular, and not discounting myself from the process.
It appears that you are one of those people who are generally calm, and let the anxiety you experience push you into being active. This is good. I think a large number of people are in lethargy (the stage below calm) where they don’t care about what’s going on.
Others have been pushed (or are being pushed by those curating the current events) into the frozen stages through all this fear. Essentially right now we need to push the lethargy stage people into the active stage, pull the fearful back down to it, and make sure that we don’t hit the fight/flight stage without proportional cause.
It’s true. the fight, flight or freeze respone limits the use of the prefrontal cortex. That means that simplified, less thought out actions become our go to actions.
Don’t believe me? Ever had to urinate really badly on your drive home? When you got back to your house, you tried to use your key and for whatever reason, it did not seem to work? You fumbled with it and said words that made your neighbors stop there Yahtzee game and stare? That is because fine motor muscle movement is limited severely in fight, flight or freeze.
That same phenomenon can strangle your perception of threat and alter your ability to quantify threats vastly. It can even make it difficult to read fine details. Your mind does not generally absorb the periphery in these situations. Despite tachypsychia seeming, at times, to slow your perception, you do miss a lot through tunnel vision. Your brain simply picks out what it sees as threatening and ignores the rest.
That means that when your brain is constantly looking for the sabertooth, it has little time to stop and smell the flowers. That is exactly why we need to stop (often) sit down, drink something refreshing, breath deeply for a few moments, reflect on the positive…And then watch A BulletProof Mind by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. More than worth it.
Gee, I just said in a post I liked that the poster was here where I was, I’d shake their hand, in spite of Covid and my being in a “high risk group”. All I would have to do is wash my hands before i touched my face. That would very much be worth the risk.
I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll just go about my life without worrying about this virus. I’ll take precautions, of course, but I’m not letting it run my life. I’ve had enough of hiding from other people and washing my hands every time I touch something someone else has touched. Hell, even auto shops disinfect your car before they work on it, put floor mats down, and cover the seat with plastic! I even write “Don’t Panic” on my face masks. The only time I wear a mask is to get into a store. Outside, 6 feet away is good enough for me.
I do the same. Reasonable response is apparently passe.
Go hug a friend or relative. Seriously. Do it. It helps a lot as we’ve been severely deprived of physical contact. Then shake people’s hands. Don’t make any big deal about it. Just extend your hand like you’ve always done. You’ll be surprised the number of people who will respond and shake it in greeting. You’ll also be surprised at the relief and joy that shines out of their face. (“Oh thank GOD! Someone who’s doing normal human things!”)
Doing these things helps others break out of that spell they’re in. Shaking someone’s hand is normal and reassuring. Hugging someone is comforting and reassuring.
Both release oxytocin, and oxytocin is an anxiety modulator–it quiets excessive anxiety by offering trust between individuals. It facilitates positive attitudes. It binds us together as individuals to form a group. We’re social animals, and creating a bond and building a “circle of trust” also gives us a sense of security. This sense of security is far more powerful than anything the government can claim to offer you.
It is also the last thing these evil people that are trying to control us want you to have. Groups of people who trust each other are one of the only things that can terrify evil, controlling people. Trusting groups create resistance to controlling behaviors.
Good points. I’ve been struggling myself over the last month, and especially week, with the correct responses to constant bad stimuli.