What to Do About the Effect a Pandemic and Stress Have on Our Mental Health
The following is adapted from Meditation Not Medicine by Adam Weber.
It’s not hyperbole to say we live in one of the most challenging times in American history.
Social upheaval has become commonplace across our countryside, and a uniquely deadly and contagious virus has threatened the safety of the world’s population.
Stress from this unrest has impacted the mental health of almost all of us. In fact, it’s caused a pandemic. When you consider that we’re already dealing with COVID-19, this means that two pandemics have collided — stress and coronavirus.
So, what do we do when pandemics collide? Are you searching for answers the way so many other Americans are? The good news is that there is an answer, and it is something you can do today.
A Multitude of Crises
Fear took over when the coronavirus broke out. The lockdowns turned off sectors of the economy and of our lives. Unemployment rates skyrocketed, with many jobs lost permanently.
The landscape as we knew it has changed for good. It is natural and logical to have some stress when the world falls apart. If you are going through another crisis at this moment, it is natural and logical to have stress now.
The uncertainty and the unknown often cause us to draw conclusions that are both negative and stressful. However, negative thoughts and emotions are dangerous. They can cause us to go backward because they can cause us to make bad decisions. As humans, we worry and stress about things that have not happened yet, but most of the time, the worst-case scenario doesn’t happen, and then we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Afterward, we realize all the worry, fear, anxiety, and stress was for nothing.
However, sometimes the worst does happen.
Personally, battling a progressive form of multiple sclerosis and living a hard-charged life in the corporate world and as a business owner can trigger a tsunami of stress, and as a result, I needed an alternative to just taking another pill. That approach doesn’t work.
Current events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and political protests, have left people feeling many intense emotions — such as fear, anxiety, and anger — and generally stressed overall. Over time, that unrelenting stress has left many feeling emotionally tired and numb.
History has a habit of repeating itself, which means that in the future, we are going to face many more crises. Not all of them will be global. Some will be some local, and some will be personal.
The Easy, No-Cost, Drug-Free Solution
These crises may be personal, professional, or belong to someone we love and care about. I have found that my sound, daily meditation practice sets me up to deal with almost anything.
Meditation has taught me that I have an internal shut-off switch, and taking a seat and meditating can help me quickly and effectively deal with stress when it rears its ugly head.
Within every crisis lies an opportunity for us to grow stronger, wiser, and more resilient. Meditation has done that for me, and it can do that for you.
Now is the time to learn about his easy, no-cost, drug-free solution to the stress caused by the world at unrest — the one in which we live today. Pick up a book, search a website, talk to an experienced meditation participant. Find out how you can begin the peaceful act of meditation today. This daily practice of just sitting and breathing for 15–20 minutes can help your mental health to recover and become stronger in these challenging times.
For more advice on how to better handle a world at unrest, you can find Meditation Not Medicine on Amazon.
Adam J. Weber is the “no BS, common-sense” speaker, author, product creation specialist, and owner of the highly successful companies Weber Real Estate Advisors and Weber Advisory Group. He helps people reduce stress through his highly celebrated meditation technique: “Easy to Meditate.” When he first tried meditating, Adam was frustrated with the “flowery woo-woo fluff” of meditation books. He wrote Meditation Not Medicine to share his simple, practical approach to meditating, helping others reduce their stress without medication. He lives in New York with his wife, Haley; his two sons, Andrew and Daniel; and his best bud, Churchill, a Golden-Retriever-English-Setter mix.
