The Covid-19 Crisis has heightened my Alertness on many levels. I think I have watched more press conferences since the quarantine began, than in the entirety of my former life. I have an alarm set on my phone so I don’t miss ‘Wine with DeWine’ at 2 pm. Trying to stay Alert at what is happening in my home and family, in my city, in my state, in my country and in the world can be exhausting and depressing. The news and the numbers are changing so frequently and are often worse than the day before. I try to take Sundays off from listening to any of it to get a break but then I find myself dreading the numbers on Monday as they seem twice as bad.
We can use our Alertness in many ways to help us cope with the crisis. We can use our Alertness to listen to what others are saying or doing to get clues about how they are really doing both physically and mentally. We also need to be alert to our own well-being and safeguard our health. We can use our Alertness to focus on the positives rather than the negatives so that we can applaud or even assist the efforts of the many heroes. Being alert to our responses in dealing with others is also important. Lines are long; shelves are empty; orders are delayed. Our Alertness helps us to have the right response of kindness and gratitude instead of grumbling and complaining.
The crisis has uncovered inequities that have been there all along in healthcare and access to digital resources for education. Our Alertness can help assure that these issues and others do not go back undercover but get addressed and resolved. What issues in our own lives have been uncovered? We can use our Alertness to have the right response to this information in choosing to look at the opportunity for improvement rather than be negative about its existence. Our Alertness should also tell us if this is the right time to be addressing them or not.
During this crisis, use your Alertness to listen and respond appropriately.
