Virus Anxiety abounds. And naturally so. The virus is such a calamity that anxiety is a natural reaction?
Are we missing something?

The primitive brain is a natural anxiety trigger organ. Hardwired to protect, and keep us safe.
Anxiety gives us the edge to survive. We have survived very well. More than any other known species. 

Capiatlism feeds on anxiety. Life Insurance, Bigger House, Better job. We never have enough. Happiness, Perfect love. Never achieve what we feel we should have achieved. We have to keep aspiring. Bigger better. This makes us feel less than. Inferior. So we buy more to alleviate the anxiety. We strive for things which are not possible.

Anxiety is so embedded in us that when we are not anxious we invent something to be anxious about. Just keep it going. Better to be tense rather than relaxed. The media feeds on anxiety. Dramatisation, Panic, Fear. The emphasis on the worst case scenario. The bottom line. Anxiety or avoidance of anxiety creates a reactive behind the curve planning.

So when a calamity happens anxiety is waiting to be triggered. The virus is deadly serious. Countries showing cultural characteristics to risk. Panic buying irrelevant items. Testing and no testing. Underplaying or overplaying the risk. In crisis management – calmness, & clarity are taught to inspire employees to think clearly and create solutions. We need calmness, planning, clear thinking and proactive strategies.

But we are not going to get them, even though we demand them. Leaders are anxious. So – as all human endeavour is: muddled, imperfect, and compromised by our anxiety.
Anxiety creates anxiety. It’s what we are to survive.

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2020
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Disclaimer: This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only
This article is designed to provoke argment and critique