We need to buy TP! (Trauma response to Coronavirus)

Ok, I am feeling called to do some education right now for people cuz it’s just such a crazy, scary time. About 90% of Americans are currently in a “trauma response” pattern. What does this mean exactly? I’ll explain it. On any given day, under normal circumstances, our Prefrontal Cortex in the brain (we will call him “Tex”) is making our decisions. Tex is rational, wise, and reasonable. When a threat comes along, the Amygdala (we shall call her “Amy”) starts to freak out! Amy can’t discern between threats so she’s gonna react to this virus the same way she would react to a grizzly bear chasing her down in the woods. Amy wants you to react and to react NOW!! This is why Amy can convince people to buy insane things like TP, duct tape, or a gun during a pandemic. So how do we tame Amy, cuz we like Amy and we need Amy. (“You need me on that wall!”)

Step 1) We need to validate that we hear Amy, we know she’s scared and she feels helpless. Step 2) Together we need to solicit the help of Tex cuz he’s made for this! He’s built for crisis management. Once we get Tex on board, he’s gonna help us to be patient, and encourage us to limit our news watching/reading to 1 hour a day cuz once we see too much news, Amy starts screaming again! Tex is gonna remind us to follow the rules to the best of our abilities cuz when we go against what we know will lessen the threat, Amy starts freaking out. And then when we see a group of people not following the rules (or panic buying), your Amy freaks my Amy out and then all our Amy’s are back at it again! Tex is also going to remind us that we’re not helpless. Tex is gonna encourage us to get creative, make masks, donate money or time, and remind us to live in the moment and not panic. If each of us, and all our Tex’s and all our Amy’s work together nicely, then I can promise you we will feel better and more in control in this crazy time. I can already tell you that sharing this information has made my Amy much happier :)