Pandemic, panic and boredom

 Aside from claiming many lives, the Covid-19 pandemic also affects the mind. People panic and dive deep into boredom.

Cambridge dictionary defines panic as "a sudden, strong feeling of anxiety or fear that prevents reasonable thought and action and may spread to influence many people."

Anxiety can be caused by real or imaginary perceptions of threat and harm. Panic is also a type of fear triggered by our perceptions. Perceptions that trigger panic may be present or absent.

In addition, panic is especially undesirable because it prevents people from thinking or acting rationally. Panic impairs their ability to rationally think and act.

Panic drives many people to explore tips about healthy living, avoiding, or managing Covid that are available all over the internet out of panic.

There are many factors that cause panic during the pandemic. First, we are isolated by lockdowns, social distancing, fear of death, the loss of friends, etc. Suddenly, our support systems have disappeared, and we are forced to live in our own cocoons.

Related to this is the lack of access to whatever gave us meaning, enjoyment, and purpose in life. Imagine driving down to the favorite coffee place after a busy day only to be greeted by the closed sign. Or the seats are limited. You return dejected. Coffee made at home is never good as the one at the coffee house, moreover, we miss the crowd and the ambience of the place as well.

As the Cambridge Dictionary states, panic "may spread to influence many people". You might have guessed the reason people who panic turn to social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. They cannot control their fear without spreading it to others.

Initially, work from home (WFH) was welcomed with enthusiasm. But boredom developed due to WFH's social isolation. The result of boredom is to engage in useless activities that only provide us with wrong pleasure. We often use social media as a way of escaping boredom by forwarding things even before we open them. This is fun for people. Some people beat boredom by posting or sharing on social media like Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Watching the growing number of likes and shares gives an adrenaline rush much greater than that of a large Cappuccino.

There is a flipside as well. Everyone is so busy posting (like you do) that they don't have time to read or like your post. The lack of likes and shares may also cause you to dip into depression. The dwindling number of likes and shares may be perceived as rejection, so you give the world a reason to remind you that you are not as popular as you thought. It hurts when ego is deflated as a punctured balloon.

How can we avoid panic and boredom? We must first recognize that we are not in control of our own lives. In fact, we cannot prevent many things from happening. For instance, the Corona Virus. There is no point panicking over things beyond our control. It is not to accept it as fate that we will suffer. Instead, it is to realize that God is in charge.

Second, we must recognize the reason for our existence. We do not exist for mere pleasure. Heaven is our goal, and we don't seek earthly pleasure to sustain our lives. "Joy of the Lord" means we draw pleasure from God's presence in our lives and looking forward to what is waiting for us in heaven. A worldview such as this provides an immunity to boredom caused by an absence of earthly pleasures.

Additionally, the advice is to stay calm, don't panic! Make sure you are not spreading your panic to others through your social media accounts. That would be a great service to humanity. Give yourself some time to make rational decisions before reacting.

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(Photo courtesy: Glyn Nelson licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Thoughts on Anxiety

The literature on anxiety is aplenty. YouTube has a lot of advice from experts and non-experts on how to cope with anxiety. I don't want to add to these. What I offer here is a personal insight into the spiritual aspects of anxiety.

Anxiety is a type of eclipse, like the lunar or solar eclipse. A lunar eclipse happens when the shadow of earth falls on the moon making the moon invisible to those on earth. But the moon is still there. It is still visible to the Martians!

Anxiety works similarly. It casts our own shadow on God so that he becomes invisible to us. God is not in hiding but is hidden to our eyes because our own anxious self is casting the shadow on him.

Then we blame God for hiding from us as the Psalmists often do in their prayers. God is not hiding, but we have made God vanish from our consciousness.

That is why the Bible says 'Do not be anxious about anything!' This is very much in line with what Jesus taught: 'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?' (Matt 6:25, ESV).
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Photo Courtesy: Alexander Dummer.

Perching on Scarecrows

Faith loves to perch on scarecrows. Scarecrows are placed in farms to scare the birds away. Birds avoid the farms where they find a scarecrow, even though the scarecrows only have a very remote resemblance to human beings and are unable to do any harm. The wise birds are wise enough to know that they are just hay for the body, a broken pot for the head and stay where the farmer placed them. They also know that wherever there is a scarecrow there is something to be eaten; nobody places a scarecrow where nothing is grown. Instead of being scared away they love to land on the scarecrows and enjoy the feast. That's the difference between faith and fear.

The psalmist declares that when she is afraid she will trust in God (Psalm 56:3-4). "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust." However, this faith makes her to challenge the frightening situations, "What can mortals do to me?" (Psalm 56:11 and also Psalm 56:4). Faith in God and fear of human beings are mutually exclusive. Faith does not run away, but would stay and challenge the situation.

Nehemiah had to face difficult situations that his adversaries created to stop the work he was doing. Nothing would deter him from his work. In Nehemiah 6:9-14 we read of an attempt to frighten Nehemiah the man of faith. However, Nehemiah discerned that these are only scarecrows! It was an attempt to humiliate the man of God. He was advised to flee for his life and find shelter in the temple. He refused to act according to their advice. He said, "Should such a man as I flee? and who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in" (Nehemiah 6:11). Nehemiah landed on the scarecrow instead of flying away at the sight of it.

Landing on scarecrows is not that easy. First of all one has to be able to tell a scarecrow from a real human, armed watchman! Otherwise landing could be fatal. It requires discernment that comes from faith in God. Nehemiah's courage did not come from his guts but from his faith in God. "I discerned, and, behold, God had not sent him; but he pronounced this prophecy against me: and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him" (Nehemiah 6:11). This is true in the case of the Psalmist also who said, " When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust" (Psalm 56:3-4).

Frightening situations in various forms prop up in every day life. It could range from discouraging words and intimidation to serious threats. However, no threat can last longer than the one who threatens. Faith looks at them as coming from "mere mortals" and trusts in God who is "immortal". Courage to face frightening situations comes from faith in God whom we should take more seriously than those who create trouble for us. They are only scarecrows; land on them, there must be something around them that you may enjoy.