Ukraine's Zelenskyy shows us how to handle fear in the midst of war
Now that Putin has raised his nuclear status to "special combat readiness," our fear levels are even higher
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Several years ago I wrote about the "cycle of worry" in my book, "False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear."
The term means that whatever anxiety-provoking obsessive mindset you are stuck inside, it tends to perpetuate itself, built up by lack of sleep, lack of exercise, loss of diversionary activity, increased alcohol use, etc.
It doesn’t matter – in terms of what you are feeling – whether the cycle of worry comes from excess fear of catching a virus or fear of an evolving war, as Dr. Judson Brewer, author of the important book "Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind," said to me on Doctor Radio Reports on SiriusXm this week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BIDEN'S ‘VICTORY’ OVER COVID IS HARD TO DISTINGUISH FROM DEFEAT
And, Dr. Brewer added, it doesn’t matter whether this anxiety is something you personally experience or something stoked by social media, although clearly voyeuristic images of a war-torn country don’t have the same power as actually being there.
Anxiety is anxiety and is bad for your health no matter where it originates.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And one cycle of worry can quickly be replaced by another, in this case COVID fears are replaced by fear of war. The world is a small place on the internet and social media and too many of us plug ourselves into events in the news and feel like it is happening to us.
I agree with Dr. Brewer. The hard-wiring of the human brain, which runs through the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex and, once triggered, leads to an outpouring of stress hormones, is far more powerful than anything we can do to try to reason around it. Instead, the cure for our cycles of worry lies in more positive replacement feelings and desensitizing ourselves to our worries by "getting back on the bike’’ once we have fallen off.
When it comes to fear, it is helpful to have leaders we can admire and emulate who aren’t projecting that worry themselves.
This treatment is just as useful for fear of war as it is for fear of COVID. Too many people are afraid to go to restaurants or the movies even after the mask requirements have been removed, and the numbers of cases have dropped dramatically.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While I applaud the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for shifting its focus to community prevalence and hospital capacity rather than case positivity rates, I think it took them far too long to get there. Overloaded hospitals interfere with health care delivery of all kinds, beyond just COVID.
The new message of liberation from excess masking and mandates is welcome but overdue. Vaccines and boosters should always have been recommended as a way to be liberated from severe COVID risk rather than as something forced. As a society, we have worn the yoke of COVID fear for too long, and it has scarred us.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When it comes to fear, it is helpful to have leaders we can admire and emulate who aren’t projecting that worry themselves.
Right now there is no one better to look to than Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who, while dressed in a flak jacket, responded to the U.S. offer to airlift him out of the combat zone in Kyiv with the already famous words, "I need ammunition, not a ride." This ironic response from the former comedian sends a message of hope and courage to overcome the fear. Accused of being a Nazi by Putin, Zelenskyy, a Jew who lost three great uncles in the Holocaust, was cool and projected courage and calm. "How can I be a Nazi?" he said.
And now that Putin has raised his nuclear status to "special combat readiness," the fear level is even higher, and those of us who grew up during the heart of the Cold War, with practice drills spent hiding under our desks at school, feel extra shocks of fear and worry.
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But keep in mind that courage, love and laughter course through the same centers of the brain as worry and anxiety. It is impossible to feel both at the same time.
The world is coming together around the Ukrainian leader. He reminds us of this message we need to live by: If Putin’s fear and intimidation tactics aren’t working against Zelenskyy, whose country is being invaded and whose life is menaced, then these awful emotions don’t have to work against anyone.
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