Here is how I handle the unknown.

LITANY AGAINST FEAR

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.

Frank Herbert - Dune

Most of the time it works for me. Now that the BF is rolling down the hill any suggestions-- serious or not,  for when the litany doesn't work?   -Kevin

 

Great "pass on" from my sister, who is working hard on large and small
community-based plans/education of the public, etc. I work on the more
personal details of "readiness". Rocky

Fear can play role in pandemic readiness, speaker says
Robert Roos   News Editor
Feb 17, 2006 (CIDRAP News)

     One expert's advice to leaders trying to prepare the world for an
influenza pandemic: Don't be scared of scaring people.

Peter M. Sandman, PhD, a risk communication expert from Princeton, N.J.,
told those attending a Minneapolis conference on business planning for
pandemic flu that fear is what motivates people to take sensible
precautions in the face of a real threat.

     "The single most important thing I want to say to you is, don't worry
so much about scaring people. People can take it," Sandman told the
group of over 300 business leaders and others at the Minneapolis
Convention Center on Feb 15. He made no apologies to Franklin W. ("The
only thing we have to fear is fear itself") Roosevelt.

     Leaders are often reluctant to tell the truth about dangers because
they fear causing panic, Sandman said. "The notion that we will panic
people if we frighten them is outright false," he said.

     The mistaken fear of panic is compounded by other errors that get in
the way of telling people the truth about threats, he said. These errors
include "the failure to realize the positive value of fear" for stimulating
appropriate action and "the mistaken judgment that fear can be avoided."

       "There's no way to get people to take precautions without frightening
them," Sandman said. What is likely to lead to panic is giving false
reassurance, he said. "When you mislead people, when you over-reassure
people, they feel abandoned-because they are," he said.

     That's what happened in the United States during the flu pandemic of
1918 and during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak
in China in 2003, he added. "People panicked because the government
was telling them there was no SARS," he said. "People are much better
able to handle a crisis when they are told the truth" and "treated as
adults."

     However, there is danger in overplaying a threat as well as in false
reassurance, Sandman said. He zeroed in on the oft-repeated statement,
"A pandemic is not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."
"That's true of a pandemic; it's not true of a severe 1918-like pandemic,"
he said. "In that case, it's if."

     He added, "Just as over-reassuring people backfires, alarming people
in ways that won't last, that won't stand up to investigation, backfires.
There's an unknown probability of a pandemic of very high magnitude."
To say that a severe pandemic is inevitable is "dishonest," and it gives
ammunition to those who argue that the threat is trivial, Sandman said.

     In a similar vein, Sandman urged his audience to be frank about
uncertainty. "People love certainty, but people punish fake certainty. The
public is extremely capable of tolerating high levels of uncertainty."
When you are uncertain about a risk, he advised, "You need to be visibly,
vividly, confidently uncertain."

     But his primary message was that in the presence of a real threat that
demands precautions, leaders should not be afraid of causing some fear.

     Calling fear a "fungible" emotion, he said, "When you [preparedness
advocates] frighten people, you are not making them more fearful people.
You are competing for their fear with other interest groups. You are
working to get your share of their fear. You only have so much
fearfulness to go around. If you allocate more to terrorism, you have to
allocate less to other things."

     "We have to overcome our fear of fear, our 'panic panic,' so that we
can do the job," he concluded.

     Sandman was asked how to maintain the level of concern about
pandemic flu long enough to ensure that preparations are adequate. Part
of the answer, he said, is not to try to maintain exactly the same level of
concern all the time, but rather to use opportune moments to boost
concern.

     "You pivot on the event," he said. For example, every time the H5N1
virus infects birds in another country, concern about a potential pandemic
increases. The event doesn't necessarily mean much in relation to the
actual threat of a pandemic, he said. "It is, however, a teachable moment."

See also:
Peter Sandman's site
www.psandman.com

Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy Academic Health Center
-- University of Minnesota Copyright © 2006 Regents of the University of
Minnesota

quote from my sister-- I think it's important to remember that the
pandemic is 'Inevitable, but not inevitably deadly.'

Rocky

Pardon me, but...

He made no apologies to Franklin W. ("The only thing we have to fear is fear itself") Roosevelt.

???

I was pretty sure that Franklin Roosevelt's middle name was Delano (FDR) - where does the W come from?

~Fluless... with a W

Everything but cooking the "Tasty Meal", never managed that.  Edible yes, tasty no!

For Sci-Fi, I have to turn to one of the greatest from our neighbors to the north...  Robert Sawyer.  If you haven't read any of his books - get some for your prep stash...  Heck get 'em anyway - they're great the second time around (and third, and...)

I thought Churchill made the fear itself comment. Am I wrong on this one?

Doug, thanks for the correction. I just saved the speech, to read in the AM.

Here is another wonderful, long and detailed, thorough and
thoughtful discussion regarding the pros and cons of personal
stockpiling of Tamiflu. I think it belongs in this "Fear" Topic and might
help us get back on track. Best to all.
Rocky
http://www.psandman.com/col/tamiflu.htm
(copy and paste, please)
=================
[QUOTE=Rocky] Snip

One expert's advice to leaders trying to prepare the world for an
influenza pandemic: Don't be scared of scaring people. Fear can play role
in pandemic readiness,

Robert Roos   News Editor
Feb 17, 2006 (CIDRAP News) Snip
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy Academic Health Center
-- University of Minnesota Copyright © 2006 Regents of the University of
Minnesota
[/QUOTE=Rocky]

   

About making fear tolerable:

Imagine the worst that can happen.  Mentally picture each one happening and how you would deal with it.  Plan how to change, avoid, mitigate those occurances.  If you can accept the worst  and mentally deal with it ahead of time the fear will flee away on the morning mist.  Nothing lasts forever.  Seemingly bad things do happen.  (Good and bad are only labels for events)  That 'bad' flat tire could have saved your life.  That 'good' winning lotto # could ruin it.  Life will go on - but not for all.  Accept it.

Train yourself - imagine situations in which you MUST take some action.  Figure out the best response, figure out a back-up plan in case the first one does'nt work for some reason - then practice your responses in real time with family.  IE. - firedrill, nasty aggressive strangers, carjacking, etc.  Even BF.  The training will make large fears grow smaller as confidence grows larger.

Educate yourself - There is nothing new under the sun.  Somewhere, somehow, someone has faced this situation before and come out just fine on the other side.  Fear of the unknown fades quickly under the light of knowledge.

Use your fear as a tool to make you get going in preparing accordingly in many directions - many ways - to come through this with a smile at the end of the tunnel. 

What a time to be alive.  One of the greatest times in the history of all mankind.  The Zenith of civilization - and to be able to watch it possibly crumble to dust.  As for me - I'm going to grab the popcorn and enjoy the ride.   Above all - don't worry!

A bale of hay can be a couch for a king with the proper mental attitude.

 

Edited by mightymouse