Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – The Coronavirus Explained.

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Coronavirus, Educational, Follow Guidance, Learn, Stay Informed, Stay Safe, Ted Talk, TedEd, Video

If you’re still confused about the coronavirus, here’s an educational video to help you out. Stay safe, stay informed, and follow the guidance your local authorities provide.

Have a great Tuesday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Helping Others.

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Follow Guidance, Helping Others, Little tasks, social media, Stay busy, Stay Informed, Stay Safe

Well, the President extended the guidelines provided by the government out to April 30, 2020. The governor of Michigan has ended the school year. The virus is hitting New York hard, and has cropped up in Louisiana, Michigan (my home state), and a few other places. Idaho experienced an earthquake late this afternoon. This virus is hitting every country and territory on the planet.

How does one maintain their sanity? First, keep yourself busy. Develop a routine and stick with it. Second, if you are working remotely, continue to do a great job for your company, despite the new difficulties presented by remote work. Third, help other people.

How can you help? You can pay it forward at restaurants you’re picking up your food from. You can stay in touch with family, particularly those family members that are elderly and isolated. You can reach out to elderly neighbors to see if they need anything from the market when you go to resupply. You can be courteous to other people and keep your distance when in public. You can abide by the hours stores set for the elderly and other populations at the grocery store, Walmart, and other outlets that are still open. You can post positive, funny, educational, and helpful information to your social media feeds. You can be a good family member by helping to cook, clean, and help with chores you might not otherwise do because you’re at work.

The key to feeling better when you feel helpless, frightened, and overwhelmed is to help other people. This will help you focus on someone else and take your mind off of things. Not to mention how great it feels to help other people out. While I was out today, I took a few extra minutes to bring a few shopping carts back to the entryway of the store, besides mine. It’s a small task, but who knows how that contributed to an employee’s day, who would normally have to go out and get them. Little things build up. Take a few moments to help. It’s worth it.

Well, that’s all I got, folks. I hope you and your family are safe. I hope you are enjoying your time at home with your loved ones.

Stay safe, stay informed, and follow guidelines provided by your local, state, and government authorities.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – You Only Control You.

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Calm, Conspiracy Theories, Control, Coronavirus, Death, Doing what you can, pain, Paranoia, Sadness, Stay Informed, Stay Safe, Tragedy, Trust only credible resources

I think today is a good day to offer one of my favorite quotes. I like it so much; I have it in my Gmail signature for anyone to read when they get an email from me. Here’s the quote:

“Every time you think the problem is ‘out there,’ that very thought is the problem.” – Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The reason I like this quote is that it addresses one problem many people suffer from—worrying about things they have ZERO control over. The coronavirus is a good example.

None of us controls who will get it and who will not. We can do what we are told to mitigate the chances, but we’re still not 100% safe from this thing. You can’t control your friends or your neighbors. You can’t control anything other than you. You can follow instructions. You can stay informed. You can help others. You can control how you react to this thing. You can control what you watch, what you read, and what you listen to. You can control how you react to these input streams. You can’t control the emails you receive, the negativity or fake news stories on your social media news feeds. You can only control you.

It it a time of uncertainty? Sure. Is it scary, uncomfortable, nerve-wracking? It can be, if you let it. A wise man once told me that when bad times hit, you can serve others. You can serve your loved ones. You can serve your immediate family. You can serve your pets. When you serve others, you stop thinking about yourself. Be selfless.

If you are one of the unfortunate people stuck in an area where the coronavirus is hitting really hard, like New York, Washington, or any number of places in the U.S. or abroad, I can only hope that you and your family are safe and sound. If not, I am sending good thoughts your way. I hope the effects are minimal at most.

It is times like these that remind me of some situations I found myself in the Army. When you’re in a tough situation, you do the best you can. You take care of one another. That’s all you can do.

I remember a friendly fire incident during a training exercise I took part in. One of the soldiers in my unit dropped a training round inside his personnel carrier and the round went off, sending a 40-mm projectile through his face. It was horrific, sudden, and unexpected. We jumped into action to get the soldier to a nearby hospital. He was dead on arrival. Just like that, a young man was with us, laughing and joking around. In a second, his life ended. Just because he dropped a training round.

This coronavirus acts the same way. It strikes people who did nothing wrong. They were just living their lives. Then, just like that, they get sick; they get rushed to the hospital, and they’re gone in a few hours or days. Could their loved ones do anything? No.

My heart goes out to anyone that has lost a loved one to this nasty bug. It goes out to the first-responders who have to deal with the families who have lost a loved one, through no fault of their own. It goes out to the hospital staff and the doctors at risk and putting their lives on the line every day. It goes out to the people who lost their jobs and don’t know how they will pay their rent, buy food, or take care of their families. It goes out to the many teachers getting creative to continue teaching their students. It goes out to literally anyone affected by this tragedy.

Take care of yourself. Only trust sources of information that are credible. Check everything you receive, including information sent by paranoid and conspiracy-theory driven family members and friends. I don’t blame anyone for what they do during times like these. People deal with things differently. Some believe they are doing good by passing along information, they believe is true.

You are the only one who can control you. You are the only one who can control how you react to these trying times. You can’t control the disease. You can’t control what will happen to your neighbors, friends, and colleagues. You only control you. I’ll end here.

Please be safe. Please stay informed using credible resources and news outlets. Please follow your local guidance. Please take care of yourself.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of March 23, 2020.

Tags

Activity, Follow Guidance, Mental, motivation, Physical, Social, Spiritual, Stay Informed, Stay Safe, Weekly Schedule

I hope all of you are safe, healthy, and paying attention to the new in your area so you can remain that way. From what I’ve seen, the U.S. government is doing all it can to help those hardest hit, and my local authorities in Michigan are doing what they can.

Stay safe, stay informed, and follow local guidance.

Here’s my week, folks. Luckily, since I complete all of my work on my laptop, my productivity has been unaffected by recent events. I know some of you are dealing with some real adversity. I hope you are OK, and conditions in your home country continue to improve for you and your loved ones.

Daily activities:

• Mental – Writing (Journaling, working on my fiction book, blogging, and writing assignments for school)
• Physical – Exercise (Home workout using extension bands)
• Mental – Learning (Computer Science path (Codecademy), Algebra course, NLP course (Udemy), and Foundations in Autism course)
• Spiritual (Spiritual discourses, reading my Bible, daily meditation)
• Social (practicing social distancing, but staying in touch with Wife, Brother, Sister, and friends)

I hope all of you are safe and remain that way. If anyone is isolated or alone, and you need someone to talk with, feel free to reach out to me in the comments. We can work something out to connect with each other via phone, video chat, or some other medium.

Well, that’s all I got for now. Have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave