The Antidote to Fear is Love

The Antidote to Fear is Love

This Easter season I am wrestling with my faith. I currently have more questions than answers, but I haven’t walked out of the ring. You never know what you believe until you are faced with losing everything, and right now the whole world is on fire.

We are all experiencing a great deal of trauma right now. I think it’s important that we acknowledge our pain. The world is a scary place right now. It is absolutely okay to give yourself space to deal with your feelings. In fact, it is essential. You can’t dismiss trauma. One way or another, you must address your emotions.

It’s okay if you aren’t very productive right now. You may need more time to sleep. You may find comfort getting out into nature. Slow walks, or sitting outside reading can be helpful. Gentle yoga helps me get more “in my body”. Now is a great time to nourish your creativity, and we are ALL creative. Paint, draw, write, play music, take pictures, garden, or grab a coloring book and let your imagination go wild with colors and shading! You are absolutely creative.

Remember to drink enough water and eat regular meals. I know this sounds basic, but it’s so easy to forget basic things when dealing with trauma. Be kind to yourself and take things a day at a time. An hour at a time if you are really struggling. Do what helps most in the moment. It’s not selfish.

My yoga teacher wrote a lovely post about the difference between self-soothing and self-care. It is okay to move between the two. Self-soothing includes things like sleeping, watching Netflix, and eating comfort foods. Self-care is more future focused. It looks like exercising, drinking water, and eating a healthy meal. The world is experiencing a collective trauma. We are all doing the best we can. Remember to be kind to yourself and others.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have experienced shock, despair and anger. The world has stopped, and there is nothing we can do but wait. While we are waiting, we have an opportunity to see ourselves. Really SEE ourselves. When the world stops and there is nowhere to run, our hearts are laid bare in front of us. We may be surprised by what we see. Be gentle and don’t judge or condemn yourself. Be a curious observer.

We will discover that we have levels of anger, hate, intolerance, depression, and fear that we never knew existed. BUT, we will also discover levels of strength, integrity, patience, forgiveness, and love that we have never realized before. We all possess this dual nature, capable of causing both great pain and great joy. That is part of being human. It is our struggle and how we respond that defines us.

I pray that we are able to put aside the finger of blame and embrace love. The antidote to fear is love, and that is what will sustain us through this crisis. Love towards yourself, and love towards your neighbor. In a global pandemic, nobody "wins". Together we rise and together we fall.