Ah Corona! Panic!
Yesterday my email, Facebook and smartphone were bombarded with communications about Covid19. I mean this in the most literal way! It was an electronic explosion of viral information overload! I received emails from both Lollipop's and Butterfly's schools, these schools also posted on FB and then sent info out on their school apps. Not once, but three separate updates. I received emails from online stores I had purchased from in Christmas 2018 and stores where I hold loyalty cards. These self same stores also posted on FB. Then there was the communications from HHI crews that the Butterfly is involved in, the dance school the girls dance for, the choir Butterfly and I belong to and the mass school choir both daughters belong to. Top that off with posts from the blogs that I follow, not to mention the fact that almost all of the 120 people on my FB friends list shared or posted an article or joke about the virus and I had reached maximum saturation by the end of the day.
I was a quivering mass of paranoia and panic. Obviously I should never have read all of them, but not wanting to misinterpret or miss any relevant information I dutifully read them all and tied myself into a knot! Then the Mauritian arrived home and said: "There isn't a single loaf of bread left on any of the shops shelves!" The back of my head exploded! WTF! What is it with people? Why is it that when something unpleasant happens people lose their common sense? After all the term "pandemic" does not mean a high mortality, it simply refers to the high rate of transmission. Fair enough in this case, it is reasonable to expect that there will be a higher demand for cleaning and disinfecting agents, but why are the shops unable to keep up with the demand for things like toilet paper and bread for goodness sake! There is plenty to go round and we will have ample warning if we do go into lock down and, lets be honest, exception will be made so that households can replenish even during lock down.
Or do these people know something I don't? Maybe I should read all these things again in case I missed something! Disinfecting wipes, I don't have any, maybe I should get some? Am I being paranoid? Yep! Am I panicking? You bet ya cotton picking socks you are! Shut up, sit down and switch off! An hour of mind numbing television coupled with the repetitiveness of row after row of the soft clicking of knitting needles I was calm enough to climb into bed and read until my eyes closed on their own.
But I knew this morning that if I didn't go into town and buy a pack of disinfecting wipes, just one, I wasn't going to settle. So I headed off into town and stopped for a coffee at a friend who greeted me with an all embracing full body hug and said "I don't care about corona!" I felt the tension and panic start to melt away. Here was a medical professional, all be it now not practicing, reminding me that it is important to be cautious but detrimental to panic and a hug never killed anyone. I left my friend and, fortified with coffee and a clearer more positive outlook I headed into the fray. First supermarket, I turn into the home cleaning aisle and collide with a traffic jam of trolleys and a mass of humanoids picking the shelves clean of bleach, kitchen wipes and gloves because the anti bacterial sprays and wipes had been snatch up by a previous group of panicked masses. I did an about turn and headed for the next super market. On entering I noticed that there were employees in almost every aisle packing shelves, that was a welcome sight because I was guaranteed to find what I was looking for. However on closer inspection it became apparent that these poor souls where taking everything off the shelves and then wiping down the shelves with disinfectant and then repacking them from crates that they had previously wiped down before emptying the shelves. I took a bottle of milk out of the hands of a red faced, glove encase, harassed looking shelf packer and walked out having come crashing back down to earth. Walking out I caught sight of another employee wiping down the trolleys and shopping baskets that customers had just discarded. I suddenly decided I didn't need wipes any more. Over night these poor people have had their work load tripled so that these supermarkets could ensure the returning patronage of the seething, smelly, panicked masses, I wanted no part of that! So I headed off to a department store to price winter pj's for my fast growing teen and low and behold I find a tower of disinfecting wipes.
On reflection I realised, yet again, that too much information is as harmful as too little information. Even when that information comes from reliable, verifiable sources. Its all about finding the balance. I have learnt that the more we are asked not to panic the more people panic. I have learnt that each one of us will be affected by this pandemic and that everyone of us will react differently to it. I have learnt that we cannot control or predict how people will cope and that the best thing I can do is be calm, kind and empathetic. But the most important lesson of all is that a good friend, a bit of gossip and a gargantuan cup of coffee is the best vaccine against irrational panic.
So to all of you, during this unsettling time of information overload, panic, shortages and fear, stay safe. Be the friend that gives the hugs, supplies the coffee and the sympathetic ear. Stay informed but choose wisely where you get your information from. Spare a thought for those among us who are working tirelessly and thanklessly to ensure our safety and well being. But when things start to wear you down and the panic starts to rise take solace from the words of Padre Pio, "Pray, hope and don't worry."
Love, light and happiness to you all. Stay well!
I was a quivering mass of paranoia and panic. Obviously I should never have read all of them, but not wanting to misinterpret or miss any relevant information I dutifully read them all and tied myself into a knot! Then the Mauritian arrived home and said: "There isn't a single loaf of bread left on any of the shops shelves!" The back of my head exploded! WTF! What is it with people? Why is it that when something unpleasant happens people lose their common sense? After all the term "pandemic" does not mean a high mortality, it simply refers to the high rate of transmission. Fair enough in this case, it is reasonable to expect that there will be a higher demand for cleaning and disinfecting agents, but why are the shops unable to keep up with the demand for things like toilet paper and bread for goodness sake! There is plenty to go round and we will have ample warning if we do go into lock down and, lets be honest, exception will be made so that households can replenish even during lock down.
Or do these people know something I don't? Maybe I should read all these things again in case I missed something! Disinfecting wipes, I don't have any, maybe I should get some? Am I being paranoid? Yep! Am I panicking? You bet ya cotton picking socks you are! Shut up, sit down and switch off! An hour of mind numbing television coupled with the repetitiveness of row after row of the soft clicking of knitting needles I was calm enough to climb into bed and read until my eyes closed on their own.
But I knew this morning that if I didn't go into town and buy a pack of disinfecting wipes, just one, I wasn't going to settle. So I headed off into town and stopped for a coffee at a friend who greeted me with an all embracing full body hug and said "I don't care about corona!" I felt the tension and panic start to melt away. Here was a medical professional, all be it now not practicing, reminding me that it is important to be cautious but detrimental to panic and a hug never killed anyone. I left my friend and, fortified with coffee and a clearer more positive outlook I headed into the fray. First supermarket, I turn into the home cleaning aisle and collide with a traffic jam of trolleys and a mass of humanoids picking the shelves clean of bleach, kitchen wipes and gloves because the anti bacterial sprays and wipes had been snatch up by a previous group of panicked masses. I did an about turn and headed for the next super market. On entering I noticed that there were employees in almost every aisle packing shelves, that was a welcome sight because I was guaranteed to find what I was looking for. However on closer inspection it became apparent that these poor souls where taking everything off the shelves and then wiping down the shelves with disinfectant and then repacking them from crates that they had previously wiped down before emptying the shelves. I took a bottle of milk out of the hands of a red faced, glove encase, harassed looking shelf packer and walked out having come crashing back down to earth. Walking out I caught sight of another employee wiping down the trolleys and shopping baskets that customers had just discarded. I suddenly decided I didn't need wipes any more. Over night these poor people have had their work load tripled so that these supermarkets could ensure the returning patronage of the seething, smelly, panicked masses, I wanted no part of that! So I headed off to a department store to price winter pj's for my fast growing teen and low and behold I find a tower of disinfecting wipes.
On reflection I realised, yet again, that too much information is as harmful as too little information. Even when that information comes from reliable, verifiable sources. Its all about finding the balance. I have learnt that the more we are asked not to panic the more people panic. I have learnt that each one of us will be affected by this pandemic and that everyone of us will react differently to it. I have learnt that we cannot control or predict how people will cope and that the best thing I can do is be calm, kind and empathetic. But the most important lesson of all is that a good friend, a bit of gossip and a gargantuan cup of coffee is the best vaccine against irrational panic.
So to all of you, during this unsettling time of information overload, panic, shortages and fear, stay safe. Be the friend that gives the hugs, supplies the coffee and the sympathetic ear. Stay informed but choose wisely where you get your information from. Spare a thought for those among us who are working tirelessly and thanklessly to ensure our safety and well being. But when things start to wear you down and the panic starts to rise take solace from the words of Padre Pio, "Pray, hope and don't worry."
Love, light and happiness to you all. Stay well!
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