with everything going on in the world…

I wanted to post a little bit about what is going on in the world now.  It’s scary, yes.  It is unknown, yes.  It is overwhelming, yes.  However, I was telling someone the other day, this might actually bring the world a little bit closer, at least that is what I am hoping for.

With my experience with my illness and speaking openly, I’ve seen the love, kindness and beauty that humanity is capable of, I’ve seen it and I know we have the ability to be amazing, loving, understanding and most importantly empathetic.  My illness taught me a lot about empathy, maybe a little too much, because I am able to put myself in someone else’s shoes, I am able to see the world through someone else’s eyes, whether happy or suffering.  Empathy can be learned and I believe we have this quality innately it just has to be developed and worked on.   I was taught empathy through my illness.  That’s why I treat people with so much love and kindness, because I know that we don’t truly know or understand what someone else is going through in life.  I sometimes can literally feel someone else’s pain or happiness.  So, with what is happening now, people need to see the world through someone who might be more vulnerable, that if we were in their shoes, wouldn’t we want to be helped and treated fairly, maybe even treated a little better.

The other thing that is going on with this situation is anxiety.  There is this energy in the world right now and we can literally feel the world’s pain and fear. 

This is what I tell everyone who tells me they are feeling overwhelmed with all of this,

Number one, change the energy outside, push the negative energy away and put out positive energy, I know a lot of people don’t believe in this, but I do.  I truly believe that your mind and the energy you put in this world is the energy you get back. And I believe we can change the course of the world with the energy we give it.

Number two, go to reliable sources, in Canada, that is the Federal Government website, canada.ca.  There is so much misinformation out there, so only trust certain reliable sources. 

Number three, exercise.  You need, and I mean, you truly need to exercise.  Wear three sweaters and go for a jog, or a nice hike, do high intensity interval training, basically just move. If I did not work out, I would literally lay in bed all day and do nothing, and trust me, if you are feeling anxious, exercising will help.  If you can’t get outside there are numerous workouts online, stay in and do an online cardio workout, of course from a trusted source, and if you do not want to do cardio, then try online yoga.

Number four, understand this too will pass.  For me, and my experience with anxiety, when something happens in my life and I become anxious, all my mind thinks about is what happened and how I can’t control my thoughts and my mind in this situation.  I then try to tell myself, this too will pass, it doesn’t mean it is going to be perfect going forward, but I know that this will pass.  Then something else will come along to make me (or us) anxious and again, I know, it too will pass. 

And number five, trust yourself, take some time to reflect on your life, look within for guidance, and see what I have seen with humanity, that we are capable of so much more, of such great love, kindness and generosity.  I know we are capable of this because I have seen it with my own two eyes, when I’ve spoken to a crowd of people, young or old, and could not even hear a peep in the crowd, when I tell someone I have schizophrenia and they love me and accept me for who I am and tell me to continue doing what I am doing.  Trust yourself, and maybe even get to know yourself a little better, you might discover the beauty that I see in almost everyone I meet, even the most broken souls.

Remember that this too will pass, again it won’t be perfect going forward, there will be something else that will overwhelm us, maybe in a day, a month or a year, however that too will pass and we will make it through it. 

And if you live your life day by day, you will know that anything can happen tomorrow, my life changed in one day, I lost everything in one day, so I know that anything can happen tomorrow, in any circumstances, so just take this one day at a time and hopefully this will bring the world closer together.

And if you need help, call your local crisis centre.  If you go to my contact page there are some resources in Canada, however every country has resources.  And talk about it, call someone, you need natural or unnatural support in this time, open up to anyone. 

And remember, even though we are apart and isolated, we will get through this together.