{"id":30664,"date":"2020-05-11T17:14:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T22:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/?p=30664"},"modified":"2024-03-01T11:59:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T18:59:19","slug":"reaction-overload","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/reaction-overload\/","title":{"rendered":"Reaction Overload"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u2019ll admit. I\u2019m one of the lucky ones. My life is not all that different today than it was two and a half months ago<\/a>. With two preschool-aged children and a work from home career, the difference in our personal pandemic culture is not all that different from what it looked like before.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the greatest shock is in the realization that I have lived the last two and a half months of my life in a state of constant reaction. A continuous influx of \u201cdevelopments\u201d and \u201cbreaking news\u201d has left me feeling as if every day is filled with life-altering decisions not just for myself and my family, but for society as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should I wear a mask? What kind of mask? How many particulates does this mask really keep away? How should I take it off? Should I use the hand sanitizer before or after? Does that person look sick? How close are they getting to my family or me? Is six feet enough? Can I get it from touching groceries? Should I get my groceries delivered? What about the delivery person? Should we get food delivered and support local businesses? But what about the food, is it safe? Can I get the virus from my dog? Can I give the virus to my dog? Are my kids going to get Kawasaki disease? Was that a cough? What the hell is a murder hornet?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would say those are 10% of the questions I\u2019ve thoroughly thought through this past couple of months … in addition to constantly running amateur epidemiology models for my community and trying to get a numerical sense of the risk we face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone in these questions, and for those of us who try to minimize not only our material possessions but also our outlook and interaction with the broader world, it can feel like we are constantly overreacting to the virus pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, we\u2019re not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any stance or belief we have in such an unknown situation as this is not an overreaction. We have to make decisions to keep ourselves, our families, and our communities as safe as we can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is a phenomenon I believe we\u2019ve been building to for years in our media-rich world that has hit a crescendo with this pandemic: reaction overload<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The potential ways this virus can harm us is fed to us on nearly a daily news cycle as media outlets seek out the most up to date angle to gain clicks and keep us returning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What choice do we have but to take it all in, create a personal reaction, and, inevitably, argue with those who have a different response because the stakes are so high? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no wonder we all feel so overwhelmed. We’re in an absolute state of quiet panic the majority of our day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using some of the lessons and the truths we’ve learned through minimalism can help ease this consumption and resist its inevitable reaction overload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news is not altruistic.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n