A Message of Hope
The door closed behind me with a familiar thud. I let out an exhaustive sigh as my back rested against it’s reinforced wood frame. I clinched my eyes closed and glanced down at my phone that provided enough light to clear a pathway through the darkness of my foyer. I crept up the stairs to my office, gently closed the door and began reading all of the big news headlines of the day. COVID-19 was the main character in every piece of writing my eyes met. “This is more serious than I thought,” I said to myself as I scrolled through my news feed. The virus right now is dominating the air waves. Major event’s are being canceled left and right. People are losing faith in the Government and world leaders as panic ensues.
Fear, anxiety and uncertainty is running rampant as we try to make sense of what’s happening in the world today. Many are trying to grasp what this virus means for our lives right now. For those of you who read this, who are feeling afraid, I sincerely understand and I don’t want you to feel bad for feeling uncomfortable by what you’ve been reading and hearing. I know there are folks out there that are criticizing people for being human, and that’s not okay. There’s quite a bit of mis- information floating around that has been purposely spread to sow discord, right along with a growing number of purported stories sensationalized by certain media outlets. These type of events make it difficult to truly understand what we’re dealing with here. We’re in uncharted waters, but that doesn’t mean, there’s no hope for a brighter tomorrow.
I come to you today to share my heart through these words. I’m not a medical professional by any means, but I believe we can get through this difficult time together by sticking to the facts and avoiding speculation. It’s my greatest desire that you’d be encouraged and uplifted as we continue to see how this situation unfolds.
Fear is such a powerful emotion, isn’t it? When we’re confronted with situations like the Corona-virus, our instinctual fight or flight mechanism flairs up because we haven’t quite seen anything like this before. I want to take a moment and just talk about the facts. Here’s what we do know so far to keep ourselves and others healthy according to the Center of Disease control (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/share-facts-h.pdf):
Washing our hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after coughing, sneezing, going to the bathroom and eating is essential.
We should avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
We should stay home if we’re sick.
We should cover our mouths when we cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throwing the tissue in the trash.
Although these times feel unnatural and uncomfortable, everything is going to be alright. We’ll get through this together by focusing on the facts, adhering to expert precautions and choosing not to participate in sensationalism. Inaccurate information only leads to more pandemonium and mass hysteria which has never helped anyone. Hold on to your faith and believe things are going to get better. I certainly do believe they will. We’ve been through tough days before, and we’re here today as living witnesses that trouble won’t last always. Think back to a time in your life when you felt like you weren’t going to make it. Look at you now, you’re still standing. Things always have a way of working out for good even when it doesn’t seem like at it at the time. Stay aware, stay safe, remain calm and always remember to believe in greater days.