This morning I have to admit, I was feeling scared. I had just read an article on Covid19 and came away feeling super anxious. Up until this point I had been keeping a level head, but today I caved.

You see, the article in question related to a health worker with no underlying conditions becoming very unwell and being put into intensive care. This led me in a downward spiral of thoughts that looked like this..

"Oh, this poor person is very unwell > She was fit and healthy > I am fit and healthy > I can catch CV19 > I can become very unwell."

At that point my anxiety levels shot through the roof and I thought "That's it, I'm done for"

However the reality of my situation had not changed from when I woke up. The only thing that had changed was my perception, or how I saw the situation. Had I not read the article, I would not have become so very anxious.

Shakespeare wrote: "Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" and it was my thinking this morning that made my anxiety disproportinate to the reality of my life today.

Upon reflection, I looked at a different thought process that went something like this..

"I am fit and healthy right now > I am taking the right precautions > The chance of me being put into intensive care are very slim (age and good health) > I am going to survive today" - within a short period of time my anxiety dropped right down and by the end of the morning it was as if the whole experience did not happen. I grounded myself in reality.

So how scared should YOU be? Is your response to some new information proportinate and appropriate?

Are you listening to those first thoughts? or are you able to reflect upon those that come after, those second thoughts that come from a place of rational thinking and not blind emotion?

Try it. The next time you have instant thoughts that bring anxiety, stop. Think again and keep things in the here and now. Stop trying to guess the future. Stay in the here and now. And most importantly, do some long slow breathing then ask yourself, "is the reality as really bad as the fear"