I have been fascinated with pursuing and applying Psychology to my own life, wanting to
work in the field but also learn how to understand the people around me. I worked in customer
service for 8 years prior to 2020, so I have met a large variety of people and have had countless
hours to observe them and even study some in further detail. When the pandemic hit in spring of
2020, I immediately heard talk of things not being quite as they seem. Very soon there was a
split between everyone I know into 2 groups: the first group being scared of dying,
understandably, and willing to do anything they were told to avoid their greatest fear, while the
second group may have believed some of what was being said, were immediately alarmed at the
amount of displaced control, which lead them to seek alternative outlets for media.
Every day there was something new being told to us through our familiar TV channels by
our favorite personalities and news anchors. The people were desperately waiting for
information, and for many months all we received was a message of fear. As someone who
looked up to the news media and trusted them to keep me informed, I kept waiting for messages
of hope, or even just something as practical as “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” But those
messages never came. So I started turning off the TV. I thought back to how I avoided getting
sick constantly for years working retail, and I realized I knew exactly what my body needed to
stay healthy: water, exercise, consistent hand washing or sanitizer paired with not touching my
face, assume everyone you come into contact with could be sick (especially during a flu season
or if they were coughing), consistent sleep patterns and a healthy diet that includes fresh fruits
and vegetables. I had avoided being sick for years this way, I didn’t need someone to tell me to
do these things.
I created my own safe space at home where I could go days without negative interactions,
and when I would come out of my self-made, worry free quarantine bubble at home to connect
with loved ones, it was like being transported into a place of fear, anxiety and
hopelessness. Unfortunately I realized that probably 85% of the people in my life not only
listened to the news daily, almost compulsively, they believed every word they were told even
if they had convincing evidence to the contrary. I learned quickly that most of these people
became very defensive if I offered them an alternative to their belief held in fear (also known as
confirmation bias). Despite the knowledge I have acquired through education and life
experience, I was looked at as a novice compared to these well-known news anchors, even just
for encouraging others to hold their same beliefs, but not from a place of fear, rather than a place
of knowledge and self-trust.
You see the most important thing these media outlets didn’t tell my loved ones is
that fear feeds sickness. The same way our society has been pushing fast food, knowing how bad
it is for people, rather than making high quality healthy foods an inexpensive option available for
all. When we eat processed foods, they carry a low vibration which in turn makes us susceptible
to illness. When our body is fed an energetic diet of fear, it lowers our natural vibration in the
same way that fast food does, putting illness and disease within reach like never before. On the
contrary, fresh fruits, vegetables and meals made from fresh ingredients raises your vibration
along with adding vital nutrients and minerals into your body, in turn strengthening your immune
system. This goes hand in hand with feeding your energy with love, hope, and empowerment.
These things raise your energetic vibration making you less prone to developing illness and
disease.
In 1976 doctors Friedman and Rosenman discovered a correlation between stress, which
caused inflammation, eventually leading to high blood pressure, heart disease, early heart attack
and cancer through their development of the Type A, B and C Behavior Patterns. Since then
there have been countless studies linking stress to negative health issues. Living in a constant
state of fear will surely lead to stress which immediately starts harming our immune system and
essential organs such as the heart and brain. The fact that we know how harmful stress is, and
that it invites disease into the body, is even more reason why we should be focusing on staying
positive while eating the foods that support that. We should also be focusing on activities that
support our mental health such as exercise, time outside in the sunlight, and maintaining a
connection to our friends, families and neighbors.
Yet not one single media outlet was talking about this. In the before times, they would
throw in little segments about healthy cooking, new diets or exercise routines for busy people.
But now, not one single news anchor talking about how cultivating a healthy lifestyle can not
only give you the upper hand but a fighting chance for avoiding illness, or how setting a healthy
foundation for your physical body can help you take your power back over the pandemic. By
feeling like you can shift the odds in the favor of your health, well that would surely be enough
encouragement for people at home who are feeling helpless, even by taking control of their own
blood sugar, blood pressure, or other conditions.
Isn’t the point also to keep doctor’s offices and hospitals clear in case there is a covid-19
case surge? Instead these outside sources are telling us to order take out every day to support the
businesses that our government is not, rather than cooking healthy at home. Being told by these
same sources that we are powerless to not succumb to the virus, so instead to stay home in a
constant state of fear rather than experiencing sunshine and fresh air. From a clinical standpoint,
this is textbook psychological warfare, defined as: “Things that are done to make someone (such
as an enemy or opponent) become less confident or to feel hopeless, afraid, etc.” Merriam-
Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychological%20warfare. “It is used to
…reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives…It is also used to
destroy the morale of enemies through tactics that aim to depress troops' psychological states.”
There are so many things we can be doing to feel empowered in a very rough time for
humanity. I’ve been so liberated by unsubscribing to the fear, and I would love nothing more
than to share this gift with everyone I know. Unfortunately, when I do try to share this
information, I am met with a lot of hostility, anger and almost manic episodes of anxiety. One
thing I hear often is that we should only be listening to doctors and scientists. To that I have to
argue, even with a doctor you are always going to seek a second opinion, or maybe even a third.
And I surely would never encourage someone to allow an operation take place, for example,
where they did not feel confident even though the person doing it “is a medical doctor.” At the
end of the day, we have a responsibility to ourselves to make the right decision for our own
body. I also hear a lot of arguments that we just needed to wait until there was a vaccine
available, then we can stop worrying. In the same context as my response to the previous
argument, each person needs to make the decision that is correct for them. I would not feel safe
taking a vaccine with very little trial and oversight (compared to previous vaccines), with zero
legal liability, in lieu of creating a healthy foundation for myself. Quick fixes are rarely the best
answer for a serious, life-altering issue.
Unfortunately, the news media is so much louder than me, with easier access to my loved ones.
The people we are used to seeing on our TV have gained our trust and respect
over time, and now my intelligence is easily questioned in comparison to what they are saying. It
has come down to them ending stories about election fraud claims with an almost robotic
rendition of, “There is no evidence to back up these claims”, making it very clear we don’t need
to continue thinking for ourselves on that matter. When I scroll through social media and I see a
friend post an article, rather than allowing me to experience a different point of view from my
own, the website will block the article and put a disclaimer saying they have deemed the story
false and encouraging us to not read it, or warning of “danger” if we do. It’s great that social
media companies want to help me think less by making these decisions for me, or telling me that
by reading something they don’t agree with I am “in danger”, or the point of view is creating a
dangerous environment – but I definitely prefer to think for myself and don’t recall asking them
to do the thinking for me.
The examples I have discussed so far are only breaking the ice of this issue, but for the
purposes of this essay I will not go further into depth. The state of fear that has been introduced
by the media, warning of spending time with loved ones or listening to a loved one say
something different than what they are saying, has perpetuated what I believe to be a pandemic
even more dangerous than covid-19. I will just say that this self-induced total isolation my loved
ones found themselves in, has only enabled me to create more space in my high vibrational
energy bubble at my own home. Once I’m no longer under the umbrella of fear, I’m able to see
many, many, many other ways that this scenario plays out and ripples through most of our
current economic, political and environmental issues. By the media and local officials creating
more isolation between households, it allowed me to see that the fear is used as a distraction
from the real issues keeping us from living the best lives we can with the people we love.
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