It’s not unreasonable that you are feeling anxious right now.

With all the uncertainty and fear buzzing through the air, it’s no wonder you haven’t joined an underground bunker! Try as you might to get through this time, your mind may be wanting to focus on all the “what if’s” that are circulating through media, friends Facebook posts, and your own mind.  

Many of the “what if’s” tend to focus on the future as a scary place or a forever changed landscape.  The “what if’s” don’t typically ask, “what if they have a successful vaccine?” or “what if everything returns to normal in a couple of months?” or “what if I get to discover something new about myself?”.  

Story Follows State

According to many neuroscientists, “story follows state”, which simply means that our minds are going to produce stories based on the state of our nervous system.  

So let’s break that down into very simple terms. 

The nervous system, is comprised of three states: Sympathetic, Parasympathetic, and Ventral Vagal.  

The sympathetic nervous system houses our fight, flight, freeze, fawn reactions to highly stressful, traumatic, and fear inducing situations.  I’ve literally frozen up when I crossed the street last week and I didn’t see a car racing toward me.  That was not a conscious choice.  My sympathetic nervous system simply acted before I had time to think, thank heaven!  

The parasympathetic nervous system, or “dorsal vagal”, is the shutdown response.  We know it by depression, apathy, believing that the world is against us.  The last system, the ventral vagal, is the “social engagement” system.  That’s when our nervous system is regulated, we are generally trusting of others, and we can support ourselves with ease.  

With all that being said, it’s likely that right now you are either in the “Dorsal Vagal”, or parasympathetic response, or the sympathetic fight/flight/freeze response.  Depending on which state you’re in will influence how your mind creates stories. 

For instance, if you’re highly anxious and your body is very much gearing up to run away, your mind is going to generate stories based on that physiological state.  That could look a myriad of ways, but as an example it might sound like, “There’s not going to be enough food, what if I run out? What happens if the stores close?”.  

However, when a pandemic is not happening and you’re generally feeling safe and secure, your mind will sound more like, “I need to make dinner.  But what did we have last night? Oh yeah, rice and chicken.  Tomorrow I’m going to get pizza because it’s Friday and why not?”

Kind of boring, right? That’s because your nervous system is calm and well, story follows state.  Your mind will literally become an action-packed Keanu Reeves movie when your nervous system is in a fight or flight state.  

 What’s The Story?

With all that being said, it’s so important that you recognize how your mind is creating stories based on what’s currently happening in the world.  We have a tendency to get really caught up in what our minds tell us, especially when our state is highly anxious (this is normal).  

Isn’t it interesting that you probably don’t even notice your mind that much when you’re calm and collected? The story your mind is generating may indeed scare you because you’re absorbing the collective anxiety of the world right now (which you aren’t doing on purpose!).  

Take a minute to simply breathe and see if you can bring your physical state into a calmer place.  If that’s unsuccessful, don’t fret. It’s simply one technique among many right now. 

Some questions to ask yourself in this moment:

• "Is this story helpful to me right now?"

• "Is this story necessarily true? Where did it come from?"

• "How is my body feeling right now?" (The "story" of our mind is directly related to the state of our bodies)

• "What can I do to support myself in this moment?"

• "When has my mind told me something similar in the past? What ended up happening?"

• "What am I needing in this moment?" (if it's certainty, remember that regardless of what's happening in the world, that's never going to be an option. We can't really be certain of anything. But we can be courageous, centered, curious, and self-supportive)

• “What will be the result of believing in this story completely?” 

• “If I can’t change the story, can I change my reaction to it?”

The Response

That last question might be the key through some of this uncertainty.  We face uncertainty all the time, we just don’t make it the prime focus of our minds.  Think about it: You literally don’t know what’s going to happen when you go into work on any given day.  

But, since you experience work relatively frequently, your mind tells you it’s nothing to worry about.  Since this pandemic is not something we experience on a daily basis, our minds don’t know how to make sense of what’s going to happen, so it focuses on the “What if’s”.   

We have two choices: We either take it at face value and react as if it were happening right now or we respond to it the way we might if it were a child asking the “what if’s”.  

In the latter situation, what would you do? Would you get scared with the child or would you offer some words of comfort and suggest that you go do some drawing for a little bit?

We can do the exact same thing with our own frightened minds.  

We may not choose to draw, but it’s within our power to engage in meaningful activities that are congruent with our own values and needs. 

All this being said, it’s so important to bring your awareness to the story your mind is creating. Even if you can’t disengage from it or respond to it differently, simply knowing that your mind is producing thoughts the way it was built to do is a starting point.

If you need some suggestions of some activities you can do during this time, I’ll list some down below:

• Go out in nature: go for a hike, sit at a park, walk around your neighborhood, go visit a nearby forest, stand outside your house and marvel at the outdoors.

• Read for pleasure. Get into a really good novel or go check out some of the top fiction books on Amazon.

• Meditate. This is the perfect time to practice noticing where the mind goes.

• Batch cook. Get some easy ingredients together like rice and beans and make a shit load so that you don’t have to stress over meals.

• Watch a show that you’ve been meaning to get into, or one you’d usually never watch.

• Explore novelty! What are some things you don’t usually do? Try something new and outside of your comfort zone.

• Values-congruent action. Engage in behaviors and actions that take you towards your values.

• Learn a skill. Now’s the time to practice an instrument, learn a language, read a nonfiction book, cook a new recipe, and anything else that is skill based!

• Luxuriate in self-care.

Final Thoughts

Humanity will always go through a crisis, big or small. The result? Temporary discomfort and then a slow, but steady rebuild. We are resilient and full of creativity that can get us through changes! This is not a permanent state, only a passing moment in this season of our lives.