I have a confession to make: it’s becoming nearly impossible for me to pay attention to the news again.
Some of you might snicker and think, “I’ve been there for awhile, Jon.” Fair enough. But this isn’t just your normal I’m-tired-of-all-the-bad-news-and-bickering kind of fatigue. This goes deeper. Way deeper. This has something to do with how what I’m seeing is affecting me mentally.
It has to do with the anxiety that’s been slowly taking over me ever since COVID-19 began spiking again. And more importantly, how our leaders are responding to it.
I suffer from anxiety and OCD. I take medication, yes, but that isn’t a magic pill. I’m not immune from the talk about returning mask mandates, the whispers of lockdowns, and the threats of what’s going to happen if more people don’t get vaccinated. I’m also not immune from the fear being peddled by the “other side” about what might be coming if we give an inch on our freedoms. And every time I hear any of those things, I face an internal battle. My fight-or-flight response goes into overdrive. I start asking “what if?” questions, and my mind goes to the worst-case scenarios.
What if this never ends?
What if we’re forced into lockdown again?
What if my kids get sent home from school?
What if the information I’m getting is wrong?
What if the vaccine isn’t really working?
And guess what: I’m not alone. Anxiety and depression are soaring.
“We thought we had this figured out collectively, and now we’re realizing, ‘Oh, we don’t. There’s a lot that can still go wrong,’” one fellow sufferer told a television station. “You’re in this place of, ‘I thought I had a breather from feeling anxious and now I’m back to questioning things.’ That can be emotionally exhausting.”
“Emotionally exhausting.” That may be the best way to sum it up. We hear one thing, only to have it contradicted the next day. We’re not sure who or what to trust. We want carrots but it seems like all we get is sticks. Once again, there’s just so much unknown. And for the anxiety sufferer, multiple that by 1,000.
Recommended
But what’s behind that emotional exhaustion? Some of the best answers are found with the simplest question: “Why?” I think I have the answer. It all comes down to a four-letter word: hope. In this case, it’s a lack of hope. Anxiety causes fear, fear is the opposite of trust, and when you don’t trust you don’t have hope.
Lately, it seems like our leaders have been leaning heavily on instilling fear instead of hope.
Do this or you won’t be able to do that.
If you don’t do this, we’ll never be able to do that.
Because your neighbor hasn’t done this, you can’t do that.
As Machiavelli, an Italian philosopher and historian, taught us, fear is a powerful tool. But it’s also a shortsighted one. What is more powerful and long lasting is hope. Give us hope — along with follow through — and you’ll have trust. And isn’t that better in the long run?
In my book on anxiety, “Finding Rest,” I talk about how to ultimately find hope amidst anxiety. But right here, right now, in this season, it would be nice if our leaders helped us out a little. I think that looks like realistic, measurable goals. It looks like following through on what you say. It looks a lot like both sides of the aisle not resorting to fear and scare tactics to win support. It looks like not moving the goalposts and not throwing out“garbled” messaging only to take it back days later.
Instead, what we’re getting now seems like it’s taken out of the world’s worst parenting book, with the threat that, “You can’t go anywhere until your brother cleans his room.” Well, what happens if my brother doesn’t want to clean his room? What happens if he’s fine with a messy room? Are we stuck in the house forever until he cleans his room? Don’t I get a break for cleaning my room? And never mind that I can’t control if my brother cleans his room or not. And yet that’s what we’re getting right now.
It’s no secret that Barack Obama ran on hope and change. No matter your politics, there’s a reason it worked. Hope is powerful. We need it now more than ever.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist and short story writer, once said, “To live without hope is to cease to live.” My fear is that a lack of hope is making living untenable for so many battling COVID anxiety and depression.
Please, then, I beg you: Give us hope.
Jonathon M. Seidl (Jon) is the author of “Finding Rest: A Survivor’s Guide to Navigating the Valleys of Anxiety, Faith, and Life”(Sept. 28). He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and two kids. You can visit him at jonseidl.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @jonseidl.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member