Surviving the great pandemic winter

The weather forecast sends chills down my spine.  The cold weather cometh.

Cold.
Dark.
Damp. 
And Covid.

Makes for a miserable combination.

There is only one way out--through!

What can one do?

"Shift your focus outward ... focus on something outside yourself."

Despite the fact that a selfish and narcissistic approach has worked out well for tRump, exceptions to the rule are not what we are talking about.  The more self-absorbed one is, the more it becomes possible to end up in a rut, with the negative feelings greatly amplified in that echo chamber.  “A lot of life’s problems are caused by too much self-focus and self-absorption, and we often focus too much on the negatives about ourselves.”

Do whatever it takes, in your own ways, to understand that you’re part of the larger world around you.  Maybe it is nature walks. Or, volunteering more hours at the food pantry. Or working with groups that want to get rid of tRumpism.  Whatever floats your boat, as they say, in getting you out of the self-absorbed state.

Finally, some practices are about cultivating a sense of inspiration — which can take the form of gratitude, curiosity, or awe.

Regularly feeling gratitude helps protect us from stress and depression.

I suspect that gratitude has been my vitamin, though I had no idea that it serves as a vitamin.  Gratitude is not the same as a momentary "thanks."  It is not the same as good manners, though you should have good manners.  We are not talking about the superficial thanks and the emoji when referring to gratitude.  

If I had thought about it more, before I read the article, I would have said pretty much the same thing as this: “When you feel grateful, your mind turns its attention to what is perhaps the greatest source of resilience for most humans: other humans.”

That's what I have blogged about in plenty.  Like the quote in this post:

You can thank your grandma for making delicious pie, but who do you thank for the circumstances of your life? 

Gratitude is the truest approach to life. We did not create or fashion ourselves. We did not birth ourselves. Life is about giving, receiving, and repaying. We are receptive beings, dependent on the help of others, on their gifts and their kindness.

So, the bottom line to surviving the great pandemic winter ahead?

When the world between your two ears is as bleak as the howling winter outside, shifting your attention outward can be powerfully beneficial for your mental health. And hey, even in the dead of winter, a 15-minute awe walk outdoors is probably something you can do. 

Walk like an Egyptian ... Think like a Norwegian

COVID-19 has infected at least 31 million people around the world. The confirmed death toll is nearing 1 million. Both numbers are likely underestimates. The annual “Goalkeepers Report” from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is usually a hopeful account of an improving world, is instead a litany of loss. The global economy will decline by at least $12 trillion by the end of 2021. About 37 million people have already been pushed into extreme poverty. Twenty-five years of progress in vaccine coverage have disappeared in 25 weeks.

Bill Gates adds: "Certainly humility is called for because the damage—whether it’s economic, educational, mental health—is so large."

Sigh!

Anything else?

I think the prescription is still the same as it was before this pandemic, and the cost of doing it is in the tens of billions, not hundreds of billions. Compared to, say, defense budgets, this is not a gigantic additional burden.

Awful, isn't it, that our country and the Republicans in particular are always ready to spend gazillions on bombs and fighter jets, but become penny-pinching paupers when it comes to public health!

Sigh!  

If you are like me, you have been wondering these past few days why there haven't been any updates about the various Covid vaccines in development.  Because, they are still only in the testing phase.

But, the good news is that there is more than one: "A fourth Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun enrolling adult volunteers."

Meanwhile, as a cartoon in The New Yorker puts it, we dread the oncoming winter.

Confined to our homes. Through the long dark, damp, and cold days.  It will be a miserable December, January, February.

We just have to adopt a different mindset.  Like what the Norwegians in the Arctic do.

People who see stressful events as “challenges”, with an opportunity to learn and adapt, tend to cope much better than those who focus more on the threatening aspects – like the possibility of failure, embarrassment or illness. These differences in mindset not only influence people’s mood, but also their physiological responses, such as changes in blood pressure and heart rate, and how quickly they recover after the event. And the impact can be long-lasting, even during major transitions

Not easy to do.  But there is no other choice either.  And that's exactly how the Arctic Norwegians deal with the long, long, long dark winter--they adopt a healthy mindset:

Leibowitz found that these attitudes actually increase with latitude, in the regions where the winters will be even harsher. People in Svalbard (at 78 deg north) had a more positive mindset than the people in Tromsø (69 deg north), who took a more optimistic view than people in Oslo (60 deg north). In other words, the positive wintertime mindset is most common where it’s most needed.

And I want to complain from here at 45 degrees north?

But, there is no way that I will watch any Norwegian slow TV! ;)