The Coronavirus is Just a lot of Hype!

A friend said he was sick of hearing about the coronavirus. Others say that they hate wearing masks or just don’t see the need. Many people say the virus is not that big a deal; it has been exaggerated.

And life has “opened” back up. We are going out, going into places and doing things we had not done in months. The impulse so many have to “get back to normal” is not just to make money or to ignore health, but comes from our desire to get back to routines and back to familiar.

We do this when things don’t make sense. We try to go back to familiar places and familiar routines; it soothes our nerves and the patterns in our brains. BUT the impulse to get back to what’s familiar can be wrong or harmful. It can be denial. 

There have been big increases in numbers of people getting sick, and the number of deaths has gone well over one hundred thousand in the United States. We are doing more poorly than many other countries in handling the spread of the virus. 

We can act like the coronavirus isn’t real and probably spread it or catch it. And it is complicated because we need to work, we need to get back to life. BUT we need to fight the impulse to deny the crisis or blame some group or person we don’t like. That won’t help us live our lives smartly. Shouldn’t we notice whenever our behaviors can hurt somebody? And then we can make a better choice. 

The alternative to blaming and denial is less simple. It requires that you pay attention to yourself. You notice when you move quickly to dismiss another person or a whole category of people. You look for information and you work for understanding. 

Our you can do whatever you want. Maybe the coronavirus is just a lot of hype!