In the face of a global pandemic that has stayed longer and spread wider than most of us predicted, our trendy motivational mantras like “you can be anything you want to be, go anywhere you imagine” have become a lot less appealing. In Bangladesh, we have 270k people tested positive COVID-19 with around 2,700 deaths till date, which might seem low considering we have a population of over 160 million. However, all of us are constantly facing the stress surrounding the uncertainty that comes with it. We do not know who would be the next to be affected or to die, we do not know whether we will get any treatments at all, and to add to the insult to injury, on social media we see our friends abroad going on road trips and visiting pubs. The mind wanders and obsesses over every bad thing that can jump at us- leading to stress at home, being on the edge and panicking at every deadline in the office, and a general undertone of exhaustion. I have found that a simple mental exercise, in the form of a thought experiment, can help a lot in reducing this stress. I am elaborating this here in the hopes that tomorrow, it might also help you.
The Exercise
Step 1: Sit down in a quiet place comfortably; and start vividly thinking about all the things that can go wrong in the coming days and months. But with one rule, only pick the worst possible outcome, and visualize on that, do not choose to think anything less than the worst that can happen.
Step 2: Visualize how you deal with all of that, the specific steps you take. When the trouble is already here, you have to step up and do something about it. Go through all the steps that you can take when all hell breaks loose around you.
When I do this, I imagine me and my loved ones being COVID-19 positive, suddenly finding no relatives around to lend a helping hand, no friends can visit to offer help either. Go ahead, imagine running around in search of a bed in the hospital, desperately calling everyone. Imagine having to arrange a funeral under such restrictions, how you need to keep calm to manage the ambulance when all you feel like doing is to be alone and away from this sorrow. Imagine losing the job, lack of cash-flow, being forced to move to the village home to opt for a simpler life at the expense of future hopes and dreams. How you look for jobs using the 3G internet that is the best that can be found there, while trying to learn the basics of farming and fishing — totally from scratch.
Step 3: When you go through all that in your mind, remind yourself this is what life has been like for billions of people for thousands of years. Human history is the story repeating the same things: nothing lasts forever, we have to face the loss of a loved one, loss of a treasured item, and face the challenges of plans going sideways. “Memento Mori” or “remember you must die” — as the stoic saying goes.
Once you go through the whole exercise however, you realize that as long as you are alive, you can take the next steps, you can be steady, and aim to be the most useful you can be to everyone around you. Imagine yourself being the person everyone reaches out to for stillness and guidance when the world is crumbling down. Because you know this is the duty of life, things go wrong, we need to deal with it to the best of our capacity. That has been the way for over thousands of years of our written history.
The Roman Emperor and Philosopher Marcus Aurelius used to prepare himself to face all sorts of trouble, reminding the following words:
“When you first rise in the morning tell yourself: I will encounter busybodies, ingrates, egomaniacs, liars, the jealous and cranks. They are all stricken with these afflictions because they don’t know the difference between good and evil.” — Marcus Aurelius
Once you go through this thought experiment, you have already thought about the worst that can happen. So, your mind can no longer keep jumping around to all the possibilities of what could go wrong.You have already thought of the worst and how to deal with it, and suddenly you will realize that the lesser worries are not bothering you anymore. As Seneca reminds us of the same idea.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca
Step 4: Use the lessons from this exercise
Having vividly seen all that can go wrong and how you will likely deal with it, you can now focus on every single day with more stillness, you can plan out your goals on growth and learning, the emergency funds that you need to save, the relatives you need to keep in touch with. You understand why you need to be there for your friends in similar troubles, as you know you will want the same thing for yourself. You realize you might need to level-up to be fit for the industry, or a different industry, instead of just for your current role and current organization, to have a better chance of facing all that can go wrong. You will suddenly realize why you should have exercised all of these years, because your own health will determine how much you can be there for your loved ones in times of inevitable crisis, when there are simply no other options.
Interestingly though, there is no need to think about what happens if you yourself die, as there is nothing more for you to worry about then right? That is like worrying about office deadlines after already being fired. So you can leave that out of your worst case scenario playing out.
This one single thought experiment has pushed me out of just knowing about the right things to do, into being aware about how important this really is when push comes to shove. The stakes are higher, and all the preparation I take every day becomes 100x more important. Getting myself organized, eating right, reading right, keeping my contacts alive, all of that suddenly comes into play.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the next best time is today. So, if you have not been nurturing yourself all these years, try the thought experiment today. I hope it does wonders for you and makes you more resilient to all crises to come.
Exception: for some people, imagining the worst-case scenario might be too much, you might experience hyperventilation and tremendous discomfort. If that is the case, please avoid this exercise and seek more expert help. If you still want to try, go for a milder version of things going wrong to begin with.
Radi Shafiq
14 August 2020
Dhaka
Further recommended reading:
Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic website and in particular this piece: https://dailystoic.com/anxiety/
Thanks to Maleeha Tarannum Chaytee for proof-reading and giving in-depth edits for the first draft of the article.
If you have found this helpful, go ahead and share this with your network, even if it helps one other person, that is worth it.
#crisismanagement #riskmanagement #life #career #pandemic #covid19 #stress