Say it with me:
I will not live my life in fear. I will not allow current events to take over my life. I will not allow the media to scare me into submission.
I will trust God. I will be proactive. I will stay positive and embrace life, even when everyone around me tries to convince me otherwise.
It always amazes me how easily people allow fear to rule their lives. And that fear grows and manifests itself into full-blown panic and before long, people are buying what the media tells them, lock-stock-and-lie. They’re doing what the media suggests they do and shutting themselves off from the rest of the world because they are too fearful to step outside anymore.
It’s mass hysteria and I simply don’t understand it.
The world has been, and will always be (until Christ comes back) a scary and chaotic place – and that’s exactly how the Devil likes it.
A few years ago, it was the West Nile virus. And wasn’t last year the bird flu? This year, it’s the swine flu. Next year, it will be something else. And every year thereafter, some new and terribly dreadful disease (or dark looming event) will be scaring us into acting like timid rabbits.
Look. I’m not saying we should shrug off these scary things, or discount them, or even ignore them, I’m simply saying, stop, breathe and step back from the media frenzy and crazy rumors and look at the situation logically and rationally.
Stop. Breathe. Think. Fear is a powerful emotion and it manipulates people into doing, and saying, all sorts of crazy things. Dealing with problems, or in this case diseases, requires rational thinking and confident actions – not mass hysteria and crazy predictions.
We’re a pretty healthy family. In fact, it’s safe to say, we haven’t had so much as a sniffle, any of us, in over a year. (Of course now that I said that …)
Here are some things that we do to stay healthy – maybe it will help you to stay healthy as well:
1. Boil your toothbrushes once a week. (Don’t keep the toothbrushes in the water for too long though, or they will melt. I usually just swish them around for about ten or fifteen seconds).
2. Vacuum often. (And this includes the blinds, ceiling fans, and anything else that catches dust).
3. Drink lots of juice (specifically, orange juice.)
4. Stay away from soda and too much caffeine. (Caffeine breaks down your immune system – drink lots of water).
5. Get lots of sleep. Seriously. It’s important.
6. Cough and sneeze into the crook of your arm.
7. Wash your hands. A lot. (Parents, make sure the kids wash their hands after school – school is TEEMING with germs).
8. Use nose spray. (It cleans out your sinuses – but use in moderation).
9. Take a Zicam at the first sign of illness (scratchy throat, etc).
10. Take a big swallow of something hot and burn the back of your throat. (No really, this isn’t a joke. The heat will kill any lingering bacteria).
11. Wash your pillows every few weeks.
12. Stop thinking about becoming sick. (You’d be surprised how powerful the mind is).
This stuff? Works for us. Like I said, none of us have been sick, truly sick as in bed-ridden, in quite some time.
And I plan on keeping it that way.
I will tell you what I tell the boys all the time: Relax. All we can do is deal with it.
