Thread by @ArielRobinson1

For those of you for whom, like me, anti-anxiety meditations & activities telling you to "breathe deeply" are EXTREMELY counterproductive right now, here's how I'm dealing with my #Covid_19 #anxiety (a brief #thread, related to but not included in my multi-day mega thread) 1/14

I've learned some coping tools from C-PTSD, e.g. grounding exercises (see

https://twitter.com/TheSweetKat/status/1240853197092270081?s=20

from @TheSweetKat & me), but right now I'd like to focus on the Hard Shit:

Confronting Reality.

This thread will be scary. It will make you uncomfortable. STAY WITH IT.

2/14

Ground when you need to, but come back to the thread-- keep going-- b/c w/ cities and states (& countries) locking down, we are officially at that point where the only way over is through.

You are strong- stronger than you think you are- and you CAN do this.

Ready?
3/14

#Anxiety is a flavor of #fear, which itself is a flavor of #vulnerability (the emotional kind, not the physical kind, in this case.)

We fear the things we can't control. A common response to crisis is hyperfocusing on things you CAN control...like all those home projects🙃

4/14

#copingmechanisms are incredibly important survival skills that are GREAT for short term relief. They are a pause button, not a delete. We all, eventually, have to deal with our feelings.The longer we put them off, shove them away, the bigger & more disruptive they get.

5/14

I will include this thread in my megathread, where I'll also share some data points from decades of research as well as my own experience, but this thread here is about steps to take RIGHT NOW to feel better.

h/t to my mom, who reminded me when I called crying on Wed.

6/14

Right now we feel powerless in the face of #Covid_19. We are afraid of getting sick. We are afraid others will get sick. We're afraid people we love will die. We're afraid we might die.

And--deep breaths (if you can), b/c this is the hard part-

We will.

STAY WITH ME
7/14

We will get sick.
People we love may die.

If you are a fighter, and/or a survivor, like me, you will want to say "No, we won't." (Denial)
"We won't if we do X or Y" (Bargaining)

But this is life. There are things we cannot control. And we must accept that.

8/14

This may make you angry; it may feel like accepting this reality is giving up.

But this, THIS RIGHT HERE, is the difference between complacence (giving up) & acceptance.
Are you ready?

It all comes down to how we finish this sentence:

"Things are the way they are, and so--

"Things are the way they are, and so nothing I do will matter" is resigning yourself to powerlessness. This is giving up. THIS is complacence.

In a pandemic, this costs lives.
But!

"Things are the way they are, and so this is what I'll do" is acceptance. This is power.
10/14

Things are the way they are-we are going to get sick, some of us will die-and so what are you going to do?

@BadassBowden is sewing masks, sharing patterns, mailing them out
@hacks4pancakes is bringing people together w/ an online conference
I made chicken soup.
And I'm here.

#Covid_19 is terrifying. Information and misinformation is flying past us at a mile a minute, none of us know who or what or whe--

So stop. Accept it:
We don't know, and it's okay.

We DO know who cares about us, who we can call for help. We DO know how *we* can help.
12/14

Stop fretting over What If's. Rest (you've probably burned through a shit ton of cortisol), eat something, hydrate.

Eliminate the What If's.
They *ARE.*

And so,
what are you going to do?

13/14

If you're still here,
Good Job.

I'm proud of you.

💜💜💜
-AR

14/14

See, look! YOU HAVE POWER.

You may not have *control,* but you are not powerless.

https://twitter.com/ebboyd/status/1241182253897486336?s=21

https://twitter.com/ebboyd/status/1241182253897486336