These days are very tough for many people. Now is the moment to choose to make yourself the eye of the storm and use this to maintain emotional equilibrium.
What are some simple things you can do for yourself (and for others) to be the calm in amongst the fear? Here's three quick ideas:
Go on a diet - a diet of social media and the news. Whatever works for you - ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes at night maybe. If there are any dramatic announcements, you're not going to miss them. Just like eating all the chocolate might feel right in the moment, but leaves us feeling queasy and a bit mad at ourselves, too much time spent lost in all the links just ends up making us feel icky.
Talk about something else - every time I've spoken to friends, clients and family over the last few days, it's all we can talk about. Nicky, one of my clients, said to me "We must talk about something else, tell me about your crazy dog" and we ended up having a great chat which reminded us that even in these tough times, we have many things to be grateful for. So, thanks Nicky for the reminder and give it a go.
Finally, get out of your own head - too much ruminating is not a good thing for any of us but easily done at the moment. For me I get out of my own head by going for a run - I'm too busy being astounded at how bad a runner I am to think about anything else. For you, that might be playing golf, baking beautiful cakes, singing loudly (we recommend "White Lines" by Six60) or something else, anything else to make you concentrate on something that gives you pleasure and gets you in the flow. Just a few minutes each day.
Being the eye of the storm is about being kind to you and bringing calm to others - give it a try.