I can't believe it's already May. Somehow in this weird time where we're all quarantined in our homes, we're still making it. I wanted to talk to you about fear and faith. I think this is a good time to talk about this just because of what we have going on in the world right now.
There's a lot of stuff we see on social media and the news. If you're watching the news, you're seeing a lot of things that may be bringing you fear. I understand that and have felt fear, out of control, uncertain, anger, disappointed and a lot of feelings. If you're out of work right now or maybe you're working from home, it is something you're having to navigate and maybe never done before. First of all, I want to tell you that you're not alone. We are literally all navigating this whole thing together. Which is kind of cool if you think about it. This is a time that is affecting everyone regardless of socioeconomics, race, gender, and more. We are doing this together. This does make for the ability to bring people together. I hope we see more of this coming together by the end.
What I want to talk about today is the difference between faith and fear. There is a lot of fear and uncertainty going on. On social media you're seeing the things people are sharing and the conspiracy theories and I'm not giving those any type of my energy. I'm not going to allow that fear to take over me and those thought patterns to begin to spiral out of control. I know that when I start to think about things I can't control or don't have all the answers to, I start to spiral. My brain goes in a rabbit hole spiral and eventually I get to a point where I have a lot of anxiety. If I am conscious of it and don't allow myself to go down that spiral, I can avoid that. That's why I choose not to entertain those types of thought processes or beliefs. I don't read about the things that I know aren't going to make me feel good. That is not what I need. I don't need to be social distancing and then reading things that make me live in fear. That is not going to help this situation.
When I say fear and faith, you cannot live in both at the same time. I am choosing to believe and you can choose to believe however you want to. Maybe you choose to believe in a higher power or maybe you're a Christian and believe in God. I want you to know that you have to have faith in something. There's going to be a way out of this. If you sit in fear and a state of "what-if"...we could "what-if" all day. We can think about all the negative things that could happen from this or we could choose to sit in faith. But you cannot be in both at the same time. Can I choose to be in faith and then sometimes be a little bit fearful? Absolutely. But I can't be in both at the same time.
When I am leading by faith and leading by a positive outlook and knowing that as long as we do what we're supposed to do and what we're required to do, we are going to see the other side of this. I choose, because I think it's easier for me and my mental health, faith. I can't control any of this. If I try to control any of this, I'm going to fail. I can't make anything change or better other than doing my part right now.
The same goes for you. You can't change anything, fast forward, you can't make anybody else do anything. You can't make someone else social distance themselves, you can't make someone stay home or wash their hands. You can control what you are doing.
The things I cannot control:
If others follow rules
How others react to the situation
How long this is going to last
The things I can control:
My attitude and mindset
How I spend my time
Limiting my social media scrolling
For me, moving my body has been so important for me. In my last post, I gave you 7 tips that are helping me survive, but I'd add moving my body. Taking my dog or working out in someway is important.
I know we have all this extra time at home, bored. Instead of sitting and scrolling on social media, looking at Facebook, checking you IG feed, getting lost in TikTok (guilty!), and playing the comparison game, I'm choosing to limit this so I can take care of my mental health.
You can choose to focus on positivity, kindness and giving yourself grace. Just take care of yourself and listen to your body. Maybe that's just sitting in stillness or taking a nap, just allow that.
Choosing to focus on what we can control is going to help us stay in that faith mentality. Fear is not where you want to be. If you are living in fear right now because you don't know what's next or you're scared, reach out to me so we can talk. I don't want anyone to be sitting and living in fear. That's not helping you and you're not growing from this experience.
You can choose to respond to this with faith and positivity or fear. What are you choosing today?