How Can You Become Stronger Than a Virus.

● I ADMIRE YOU ●

One day you arrived on Earth. Without knowing what was all this about. You had no clue about the human experience. Fast forward to today, and you are in the middle of a pandemic.

If you think about it, since that precise moment in which you took your first breath in, everything has challenging and new.

From learning to walk to discover what is “right” and “wrong” and everything in between like your first day at school or at your first job. It has all being a big challenge.

I admire, acknowledge and recognise all the effort, energy and work you have been doing each day to be alive. I admire you and all of humanity that brought us from living on a cave to this precise moment.

I admire you. For waking up each day, working to pay your bills, your rent and your other services like wi-fi and your mobile phone. I admire that you probably wake up each day do some things you don’t like doing. But you do them anyway.

And here we are, in the midst of a pandemic in the world.

Let’s take a moment and have some compassion for you. Compassion for everything you have already been through and learnt about your human experience.

LET YOURSELF BE DEVASTATED FOR A MOMENT. ALLOW YOURSELF TO FEEL DISAPPOINTED. ALLOW THAT TO BE THERE AND LET YOURSELF FEEL IT. DON’T JUDGE YOU.

BUT HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU ALSO NEED TO KNOW:

● YOU ARE FEELING STRESSED OR SAD BECAUSE OF YOUR THINKING ●

You thought things should be a certain way. You thought your life should continue as it was before a pandemic. You think it is wrong that we have to go through all this. You thought things should be a certain way, and they are not. You want them to go back to “normal”.

So now, you are trying to control the world.

This is the world we have. You can’t control that.

This is how being a human is. You can’t control that.

There is a pandemic in the world and you can’t control that.

● EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES ARE ALWAYS NEUTRAL ●

One more time: External circumstances are always neutral. There are circumstances in the world, and then, there are our thoughts about them. Everything starts with a thought.

What would you think of rain if you had never seen it before? Probably you would think something like “it’s the end of the world”. But today when you go out and is raining you think “I need an umbrella”.

Each one of these thoughts will probably lead to different emotions and actions.

Rain is just rain, but your thoughts about it would make you act and feel completely different.

● IF YOU KEEP YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT, EVERYTHING ELSE FALLS INTO PLACE. ●

New uncertain thoughts about circumstances can be an opportunity for us to work on our minds and embrace the experience of being human. What if COVID-19 was always supposed to happen and is the best thing for our world right now?

WARNING: Your brain will want to indulge in chaos, crisis and fear. That is a sign of your mind being healthy. That is what our brain does. It is trying to protect you, scanning the external circumstances to keep you safe.

But if it were for the brain, we would still be living in a cave. Your primitive brain wants you to avoid the unknown. Expect your mind to take you to that scenario in which this is the end of the world.

There are always thoughts that will cause you to feel safe (“oh, it’s raining”) and thoughts that will cause you to freak out (“it’s the end of the world”). Both options are always available. -If you don’t believe me, I strongly recommend you to read the book “Man's Search for Meaning” by Victor Frankl.

● LEARN TO MANAGE YOUR MIND ●

If you let your brains indulge in what is going on outside, you lose your power. Without a thought, there’s no fear.

1) WATCH YOUR BRAIN CAREFULLY.

Whenever you start feeling anxious or worried, become aware of your thoughts. What are you thinking? Where is this emotion coming from? Become aware of what you believe. If you can, write it down.

2) FEEL YOUR EMOTIONS.

This is not about pushing emotions away and acting as nothing happened. Embrace your fear: cry, draw, sing, shout, paint, write, punch a pillow. Do whatever you feel you need to express yourself with yourself. Tell yourself how you feel and experience it.

3) LEARN TO THINK ON PURPOSE.

What do you want to believe in this situation? What is this for? How is this for you? How can you use this situation?

OWN YOUR MIND & CREATE WHAT YOU WANT TO BELIEVE.

“The Coronavirus made me reconnect with my whole family”

“Since this pandemic I committed myself to appreciate each day of my life”

“Loosing my job impulsed me to open my own business”

“The COVID-19 will make my business duplicate it’s revenue”

“This pandemia allowed me to realise I love singing so now I live from the music I create”.

Create your own.