Not only your true hair colour will begin to show in the next few weeks but your true edges.
Fear is not a behaviour.
Fear is a basic emotion.
Fear drives behaviour.
Emotions arise mostly unrequested.
Behaviour can be chosen.
Where are your choices leading?
Toilette paper will not save lives. So why hoard ? When you act from fear you do not think. You act from a need for certainty. For control when everything seems to be slipping through your fingers. So toilette paper gets hoarded. And somehow you feel better. Safer. In control ...... ....... of something.
Acting from a place of fear can be a sharp edge and a slippery slope.
A couple of weeks ago I found myself very actively seeking toilette paper. Although I had at least three weeks supply at home, I went from store to store rather mindlessly, ever more certain that I needed to find some as I saw empty shelves. When I finally found some in a small local store I felt a sense of relief and achievement. How reasonable it seemed to empty the shelf. For a moment. Then I stepped back from myself. What was I doing? I took 4 rolls. And left some for others.
I’m not boasting about what a grand person I am. I’ve made other choices that are not grand at all. That moment however, I chose to not act from fear. A slippery slope into greed and frantic behaviour avoided. I chose instead to to walk a different edge. But it was close. One small choice closer. Enough similar choices and I could have been on that slope and sliding.
It’s not just about toilet paper. Every day each of us encounters many choice points. At this time choices may seem limited and yet we have them.
Get dressed without any place to go? Choose pop or water? Leave the news on all day or listen to a different type of podcast. Find a free app and learn something. Or mindlessly stare at nothing. Pick up the phone instead of texting. Many choice points.
If you are struggling with mood, these choices can be critical. If you are not, you can still choose to reach the end of this crisis depleted or enriched. You choose.
Good reading choice around choice: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen