I have been getting a lot of questions recently about the recent virus pandemic, so I decided to post a brief article here that can hopefully be of some help.
There have been a lot of conversations about the outbreak presently taking place, known as Coronavirus / COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2. The opinions are across a wide spectrum from it being a natural phenomenon, a divine judgement, or perhaps a genetically engineered biological weapon that has been released. The first thing that comes to mind is that unless you have the ability to stop natural phenomenons, intervene in matters of divine judgement, or arrest or make war against people who might release biological weapons, the decisions you have to make are not as complicated as you might think. In other words, instead of being heavily occupied with what is going on, it might be best to stay focused on what you are able to do and the decisions you are able to make.
What we are experiencing is a disruption to regular daily life. When it comes to medical events, such as this one, we are always at risk of having our lives disrupted. This is not the only virus in our environment right now. There are bacterial infections available, tumors and cancers are growing in some people, degenerative conditions from joints to alzheimer’s and dementia, car accidents and numerous other medical events happen all the time. There are many other kinds of events that can take place in our lives, such as snow storms, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, nuclear power plants melting down, and many man made catastrophes such as market meltdowns and currencies failing. Regardless of what the event is, it is in our interest to always be ready to respond to the disruptions we experience in our daily lives.
I was in a store the other day listening to people’s conversations with each other about the disruptions in the supply chain. People have been having some problems getting things made in China and toilet paper is getting difficult to find for sale. I found it interesting what people decided to talk about. They were complaining about everyone else who in their opinion were having psychological problems. For some reason I found myself thinking that every word that came out of their mouths seemed to have a lot of importance to them, but had absolutely no relevance at all. The fact was, and still is, that they went home shortly after that and their experience in the bathroom was very different from a lot of other people they were complaining about. It doesn’t matter what they think, you think or I think when it comes to a lot of things we would like to think are very important. The reality is, you either have what you need or you don’t. That is the way things are.
This is a wonderful opportunity for people to take some time to assess their lives and what they value. What is taking place right now is going to come to an end. It might be in two weeks, two months, or more likely six months, but this present crisis is going to pass and a year or two from now there will be nothing in the news about it and a lot of people are going to have a hard time remembering the word Coronavirus. When this is over, and the supply chain is fully functional again, it will be a good time for you to apply the things you are learning about life now. Make some notes about the obstacles you have and see other people have. Think about how you could adjust your life to help you navigate some of these obstacles in the future if they take place in your life and execute decisive actions for yourself.
The first thing I think you should notice is the importance of your personal health. You may be able to avoid coming in contact with this virus, but considering how easy it is for it to be spread it is better to assume you will be infected by this virus no matter how aggressive you are with your precautions. I think precautions are very important and I do encourage people to take them to try and avoid coming in contact with this virus, but it is better to be giving your body what it needs to effectively heal from this infection. For most people, I am referring to the significant life change of changing what you put in your mouth and how much exercise you get. For those of you who see me personally, I do not put mental effort into judging people for how they take care of themselves. What I am going to say is just a response to the topic and is not a reflection of what I think of when I visit with people. I could find humor in watching someone expressing what could be similar to religious exhibitionism about the news, while spending the day filling their mouths with over 120 grams of sugar (a little over a quarter of a pound of excito-toxin), foods labeled with most of the ingredients being difficult to pronounce (including preservative toxins), smoking cigarettes and being loaded with medications. However, I do sometimes find this depressing. Instead, you might want to consider giving your body adequate supplies of the nutrients it needs to fight this virus off, reduce the toxins you give it that it has to fight off and process out of your system, or store it in fat for later when it can, and exercise your body so your body can flush out the toxins and waste material that is also dragging your physiology down. Making a change like this is very inconvenient and will cost you a piece of your life in time and effort, but it is a much better use of people’s time and effort than all of the complaining and quests for information and attitudes that are simply irrelevant. You’re body is going to have the nutrients to manufacture what it needs to heal and not be overburdened by other substances you put in your mouth, or you are going to have temporary residency in a hospital until you heal or are dead. This is how it is going to be for most medical events in your life.
The second thing I think you should notice is the importance of having an extra supply of things you need or would like to have in your life. There are many different strategies people use to solve this problem and it is in your interest to do at least one to improve your ability to respond well to disruptions in the supply chain. One example is to implement your own store. You can accomplish this by setting aside some space in your home to keep large quantities of things you use on a regular basis. You manage it by only taking something out of the store when you have the item to put it in the store. For example, if you need a can of pineapple in your kitchen, go to the store and purchase it like you normally would, but instead of bringing that can into the kitchen, put it in your food storage to replace one in it that has an earlier expiration date. Start building a supply of items you use on a regular basis a little at a time and then eventually try to organize it so you have one month or three or six months worth of items, depending on how long you think it might take for the supply chain to return to a sense of normalcy. For example, by the end of this present crisis, you should have a reasonable idea of how much toilet paper you would like to have available according to how long it took for the disruption to be resolved.
The third thing is the importance of monetary resiliency. This viral pandemic is a fantastic opportunity for people to make money in the health care industry. For others, the disruption either due to supply chain or credit problems could be an extinction level event for their business and way of life. Everyone needs to understand their own role in society and the dependencies they have to fulfill their part in an economy. A business that provides fever reducing medications might have an enormous demand for these medications requested of them, but if they cannot get them to sell, they cannot stay in business and they can be driven into bankruptcy. A toilet paper dealer’s phone may be ringing day and night, but if they can’t get any to sell, they no longer have a functional business. Every business needs a customer, but they also need something to sell or a service to perform. If they cannot deliver the goods or provide the service, they don’t have a business anymore. If you are an employee it is very important to understand the risks faced by the company you work for.
The school closures and cancellations of events are decisions that will slow down the spread of this pandemic and reduce the number of people who are infected. This helps the health care system to better manage the increase in demand for help. This virus will still be around for a while. Normal economic activity will have to resume and this virus will spread more and people will continue to get sick, but the health care system will be able to respond better if the rate of infection is slowed and spread out over a longer period of time. Use your time wisely to improve your bodies ability to build antibodies to respond to infection effectively.
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