What do we do now?

A few weeks ago I got some bad news that sent my head spinning. While I was in the midst of solving that problem, a got a message from my cousin. He’s a nurse in northern Italy, and told me of an impending disaster.

We all know now that the disaster is Covid-19. And Simone and Italy were unfortunate canaries to what can happen.

These two consecutive experiences elucidate what life can be — a series of problems — if you see it that way.

Fortunately though, I have a life time of using strategies to calm anxiety and worry. So, in the case they can be of any help, I share my favorite calming strategies below.

Remember, it could be worse.

The first thing that I try to remember is that it could always be worst. I was a high school history teacher in a previous career and I was often bothered by what’s happened in the past.

We could be experiencing the Spanish Flu from 1918. That killed more people than WW I and WW II combined. Then there are those Small Pox blankets that were used in the 18th and 19th centuries to decimate the Native American population in my country and beyond.

So, you may be worried about your family. You may be bored at home. But find peace in remembering history. And know that your situation probably isn’t that bad after all.

Notice the nice things.

Look around you and you’ll see nice coincidences everywhere. Maybe people you haven’t spoken with in a while reach out to see how you are doing. Maybe you were stressed to go to the grocery store, but when you got there it wasn’t that bad after all.

When you notice these nice coincidences write them down so that they become more real to you.

After reading about this idea in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, I started keeping a Synchronicity Jar. It’s a mason jar where I put all the nice coincidences that happen in my life. I find that seeing all the bunched up pieces of paper accumulating in my jar, I often feel better about my situation in life.

Contain your worries.

Even though we often have good things that happen in our lives, it’s normal to worry. It’s actually a survival mechanism that keeps us safe and relatively…