Why My Country Is Collapsing: The COVID-19 Ultimate Nightmare

How could we be so naïve?

Maria went into a supermarket and spotted one of her neighbors. She knew her neighbor was in prophylactic isolation. Maria went immediately to the chief employee, denouncing what was happening.

They heard a voice at the microphone to warn. Someone should be in prophylactic isolation. Even so, disrespecting the law was irresponsibly contaminating the entire supermarket.

The speaker warns everyone that someone here should be in isolation and go immediately to the door.

Sixteen people left their shopping carts in the middle of the corridors and went out the door.

Sixteen.

The Best Apology Is Changed Behavior

At this point, we already noticed that this virus is highly contagious.

Everyone should be aware that it has to do with our behavior towards the rest of society.

I was suspicious that countries from the south of Europe would have behavioral issues. Spain, Greece, Italy, and Portugal would be on that list.

We have a culture of affections, of urgent hugs. This happens every five minutes. So, how can we fight a virus that forces us to do precisely the opposite?

Sometimes poor behavior is merely bad execution of good intent.- Stephen Covey

We all knew that Christmas and New Year’s Eve would be a terrible opportunity for the virus to spread like hell.

I know it’s easy to talk after things happen, but we knew how our behavior could help Covid to spread. Our hospitals were at dangerous capacity.

Why didn’t we prohibit any kind of movement of cars and people in those days? Except for the distribution of essential goods, of course.

We already knew about the high level of contagion of this virus.

Now, we have entire families coming into the emergency rooms. Why? Because there was one infected person who generously infected the rest of the family.

In Portugal, we hear doctors and scientists explaining that the cases will keep rising for the next two to three weeks. Yet, we don’t have enough beds or ventilators for the demand.

Hospital capacity will collapse within days.

Fear Has a Large Shadow, but He Himself Is Small

I’m not afraid of the virus, but I damn respect it.

Since March 2020, I have never left home without a mask, and always used and abused disinfectant alcohol for my hands.

Since November 2020, I have turned into a full-time writer. So, I spend most of my time at home. Still, my two daughters have school, and you know how kids are.

So, I never know if we’ll be the next lucky draw. I did the test one month ago, and my daughters did it two weeks ago — all negative.

Yesterday, the government sent everyone home. All schools, restaurants, shopping malls, everything will close for at least two weeks.

Am I afraid? No.

When I was 18 years old, my mother was diagnosed with a rare disease that put her in a wheelchair. My father suffered all his life from chronic asthmatic bronchitis. He died three years ago, at 66 years old.

I have always lived with sick people at home, yet repeatedly fought for what I wanted. The disease has always been near me, but it never defeated me.

I was a high competition athlete. And currently, I do ultramarathon in high mountains. My daughters also play sports.

We can’t predict the future. But we all have the option to live in fear or not.

I don’t admit to myself living in fear of anything. I refuse to submit myself to any kind of fear.

That’s the way I live my life.

Yet, please don’t think I’m one of those insensitive macho men. I cry like a baby each time I see Collateral Beauty with Will Smith. Have you seen this fabulous film? If not, you see it and tell me you didn’t cry at the end.

About Fear

I’m not going to talk about the mess the novel Coronavirus is making in Portugal, my country. Every nation is fighting it in its own way. Unfortunately, dramatic stories come from every corner of the globe.

If you want to hear pain and fear, turn on the TV. I don’t.

So, let’s avoid more drama beyond the one that already exists.

What about fear?

That is something we can discuss. Mainly because this ‘emotion’ is the most common in times of uncertainty.

Yet, the most prestigious scientists have different perspectives about the concept.

What is Fear?

An intensive debate about its meaning has been playing out into neuroscience.

One school of thought defends that the ‘feeling’ related to fear, such as horror or terror, is a cognitive conception. It differentiates us humans from animals. The complexity of the human brain cannot be studied in animals.

For example, Ralph Adolphs emphasizes the universality of defensive behaviors, which adds credence to the view that fear circuits are mirrored across species and, therefore, partly innate.- scientificamerican.com

Lisa Feldman Barrett’s ‘theory of constructed emotion’ proposes that ‘the human brain constructs instances of fear as a consequence of predicting and inferring the cause of incoming sensory inputs from the body.’

Some scientists believe that fear comes from inside. It’s your ‘defensive survival circuits’. It underlies defensive behaviors coming from ancestral experiences.

Other scientists believe that our brain continually projects itself forward in time. Predicting changes and readjusting the sensory systems to act accordingly.

Maybe the truth is somewhere between these two theories. My focus and my willpower fight my ancestral defensive circuit. Meaning, I can control my fears by controlling my feelings, perceptions, and actions.

Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D., is doing a brilliant job with his online course. He leads behavior by projecting our minds into our future selves. Imagining yourself ten years from now, you can redesign your next steps.

Benjamin’s online course, ‘The Create Your Future Self Project’ has been a useful tool. People who fight for self-improvement and self-awareness can have new tools to improve.

Everything in life has a purpose. You can use it in your favor or against yourself. At least, that’s the way my brain works. That was the education I choose to have.

The books I read made me the man I chose to be.

The people I call my friends influence the type of person I am.

I believe in the power of choice. Unless someone is pointing a gun at your head, you can choose who you want to be. Nobody can buy your soul.

You can put fear work for you.

How?

Being afraid of ignorance, stupidity, luxury, and arrogance.

Final Thoughts

We thought because of the vaccines, we’d have a friendly and smooth 2021. Unfortunately, it’s going to be another challenging year.

We will literally be surrendered to the resilience of our genes and immune system. I know people who have had Covid and did not experience any symptoms or felt like the mild flu.

Yet, I have heard of people in my home town who have been very ill. Some of them got sores in their lungs.

So, it’s time to be very careful. Put fear to work for you.

We should retreat more at home or do long walks outdoors as far away from other people as possible. You have a marvelous opportunity to read, reflect, or tidy up the house. Also, to practice meditation and slow down. We all need to slow down.

In doing so, we can enhance the simple things in life.

Yes, we did it last year, but this year we can do it better. Deepen the lessons that 2020 has brought us.

Amid so much suffering, let us know how to honor the unfortunates. Do not waste our time, because time is more important than anything else.

For those who were gone. For those who are suffering.

Let us honor time- our time.

Because time is all we have left.

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