Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, as is becoming increasingly common, was a voice of calm as coronavirus laid waste to sporting fixtures across the world. The German has delivered a dose of perspective.
In a statement on Friday, he wrote: “Today, football and football matches don’t seem very important at all.”
What’s most important to you?
It’s interesting when there is a ‘news bulletin.’ to update us that the death toll has risen, the first thing we look for is reassurance that the people that have unfortunately died were in their 80’s and had underlying health issues. We seek that certainty that as our age is below 60 we will be safe. Until the next bulletin, when you are informed that someone in there 20,30,40 or ’50s has died and your whole perspective about fear and survival changes.
We are entering uncertain times, as human beings, we crave certainty just as night follows day we desperately want the reassurance that everything will be ok. We want to feel safe. But unfortunately the one thing we will almost all be feeling is fear. Fear of the uncertainty. Fear of the unknown.Fear we may not survive.
Caring for others
To coin a famous phrase: we’re all in this together. These are fearful and stressful times, but it’s important to be there for each other now more than ever. Just because you’re self-isolating, it doesn’t mean you need to cut yourself off. We are social beings as I have said many times before we all feed off each other. We have the capacity to make a difference to someone else simply by being and doing the simplest of things. Calling a friend to see how they’re doing, checking in on a neighbour to see if they are ok can boost both your well being and theirs. Research has shown that if you want to feel happy and good about yourself be of service and help someone.
As Alice said in ‘Alice in wonderland’ “The only thing worth doing is what we do for others” but in doing for others we are also doing for ourselves for our own mental good health, remember how it felt when you did that random act of kindness for that complete stranger and in that moment you looked into each other’s eyes and connected human being to human being.
This is a challenge the likes of many of us have never faced before and maintaining good mental health during this period will not be easy. But good preparation and the right knowledge can go a long way to making sure we’re resilient as we can be.
Ultimately this about being human and how we support and care for each other through these uncertain times and that’s what’s important.
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