PERCEPTION: How it can Predict Negative or Positive Outcomes

A wedding, the birth of a child, graduating, getting your first job, and many other happenings are events that impact our lives. How much an event will affect our lives negatively or positively will be on how we perceive things.

Take, for example, the isolation rule being enforced at present to stop the spread of COVID-19. If the feeling is like being in prison, then the individual’s experience will be one of claustrophobia, a sense of injustice, and having their freedom of choice taken away from them. However, if it is viewed as a time to relax or do things that need doing around the house, then it becomes a time to be grateful for the time available to the individual.

Some are calling this time a time of uncertainty. The statement implies that we are always confident of outcomes. Are we always sure of what is going to happen from moment to moment or in the future? We can never be sure that life will unfold as we hope to or wished, individuals can not predict for sure what is going to happen because it is out of the individual control. The only thing we can control is how we choose to perceive things.

Indeed, we don’t know when the virus will come to an end. What we do know is that by following the Health Dept instructions on how to stay well and protect the most vulnerable in our society, we will get thru this period in time.

How do we choose to perceive and act during the COVID- 19 situation?

We can choose to panic and empty the grocery shelves, thereby making it harder for ourselves and others by forcing supermarkets to put limits on the number of items that can be purchased. Panic buying created the shortage being experienced now. Or we can choose to live as normally as we can without feeling fearful all the time.

We can choose to listen less to the news and pay attention to Health Dept updates. The message is the same: keep your distance from other people, wash your hands thoroughly and look after your well being and that of others.

We choose to keep it all in perspective:

– The flu spreads faster than COVID-19. 

– Most people have mild symptoms, 15% have severe infections, and 5% require intensive care in a hospital ICU.

– Older people and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus, according to Health NSW figures.

– COVID-19 can be controlled as can be seen by China and Korea, showing a significant decline in the numbers of outbreaks.

The most important factor that everyone should be keeping in mind at this time is that anxiety/stress negatively impact on the immune system by dramatically weakening it.

How we view our circumstances and how we respond to them will determine how much and how long we will be affected by them. This is a moment in time, and it shall pass.