The Mind-Killer

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

I am currently in the middle of reading Frank Herbert’s sci-fi magnum opus, Dune. The other day I came across the above prayer uttered by the main character, Paul, as he tries to come to grip with his world falling apart.

I found it poignantly applicable to the times we are all living through. People are afraid. I am afraid. We are in uncharted waters. In modern history, we have never faced anything like this. We don’t really know how things are going to progress. We don’t really know how effective the draconian measures we are putting into place will be at lessening the impact of COVID-19. We don’t know whether the measures we are putting into place will do more harm than the virus itself.

We don’t know when this will pass over us. We don’t know when we will be able to turn around and see the path of destruction this virus has wrought.

But we do know that it will pass over us. While we are in the thick of things it is hard to believe that they will ever change. Just three weeks ago everything was normal. And now here we are and everything is decidedly not normal. It feels like this will go on forever, but it won’t.

This will end. And we will remain.

But what to do in the meantime?

If fear is the mind-killer, then I believe that action is the fear-killer.

I think that is the real reason why our present circumstances are so hard to take. When you are quarantined inside, it is hard to take action. It is easy to feel powerless.

I know I have felt that way over the past week. Like what I do doesn’t matter. That whatever I might write this week wouldn’t make any sort of difference.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Every inch matters. Doing little things the right way makes a big difference over time. You never know what kind of impact a kind word of encouragement or offer of help can have.

Especially at times like these.

I want to do my part. This is a list of resources I have come up with after a little bit of research. The workbook is publicly editable so please add helpful resources you have come across as well and share to your network.

Pooling resources may not be much but at least it is something we can all do to try to help provide clarity and guidance during these difficult times.

Unfortunately, we have more to fear than fear itself these days. That doesn’t mean we need to give in to the fear. We can fight against it through action.

And we will beat it.

Just like we will beat this disease.

Just like we will beat any future challenge we face.