A COVID-19 Commentary

It's a virus, it can spread quickly, it caused the closing of most businesses including gyms, has depleted groceries at the grocery store, and now forces our hand as to our response.  As some of you know by now, I oversimplify concepts, with the main goal of getting you to comprehend the basic points.  Certainly there is more to COVID-19, but what I covered is all you need to, and probably already know anyways,  Now, I believe there are four main ways people are responding to this pandemic, four ways people respond to most significant situations, honestly.  Of course, it would be rudimentary to assume one of these responses is demonstrated wholeheartedly by a person at all times, behavior is a bit more complex, and though a person might have consistent tendencies, it is unlikely for their actions to remain undeviated.  So though this commentary is my own speculation , I do hope it at least makes you more cognizant of yourself than before you read this.

The Responses:

• Response 1- Defeatist.  This response is often associated with a herd mentality and comes with high stress and anxiety.  Because there is nothing you can do about COVID-19, you might as well binge eat, watch the news, stay inside (except when you venture to the grocery store to buy all of the toilet paper), worry about your paycheck, and wait for it all to pass.  You don't hesitate to let everyone on social media know the latest statistic on infections or death counts in your state, and they too should admit defeat. It is possible to come out of this response but it will take work.
• Response 2- Narcissist.  This response is often associated with being ignorant.  COVID-19 is nothing more than a severe cold and you aren't going to change any of your daily behaviors.  If you are lazy, you will stay lazy.  If you are active, you will stay active.  The only thing that is changing in your life is government mandated closures of your job, or your favorite bar.  This response could very well devolve into the defeat response.
• Response 3- Vacationist.  This response emerges from a mix of response 2 and response 4 (see below), but I think it is distinct enough to stand on its own, kind of like mixing blue and yellow to make green.  Remember that first week at college when you were no longer uner your parents direct control.  You definitely took advantage of the opportunity, no doubt, skipping class, drinking booze, but you also failed to remember the bigger picture, you need to graduacte to have a fighting chance at a job in todays world. So just as college will end and you will be thrown into the real world, COVID-19 will end and things will go back to normal.  The question is, where did you go between now and then?
• Response 4- Opportunist.  The most self-aware response of the four.  This person sees COVID-19 as an opportunity.  You understand things in your control and things not in your control. Yes, COVID-19 is out of your control, but you control how to respond, and you chose to make new opportunities with your quarantine and abundance of free time.  You, like response 2 also do not change your natural behaviors, you just acclimatize to the current state of things. It's important to understand that opportunists evolve and vacationists idle.

I'll be blunt, be the opportunist.  As a personal trainer, it pains me to see self sabatoging behavior, conscious or subconsciously during this time period.  COVID-19 is the action, but you are the reaction and the real danger is not evolving (thank you Jeff Bezos for the partial quote).  With so many favorable circumstances and alternatives available during this time, I don't see this situation as a step back, but a step forward.  The reaction is yours.

UnrestrainedShane