Follow Harry’s House Rules and we can play our part in Covid-19 war
SO, ON what should be a week of celebration of our national day and saint, many of you find yourselves isolating in your own homes. There is a new reality and all is changed, changed utterly as Yeats once put it. It is normal to feel panicked and powerless at a time like this, I know, because I’ve experienced variations on isolations/lockdowns and bunkering down on quite a number of occasions in Africa during outbreaks of Ebola and conflict.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
We’ve gotten the medical advice about what needs to be done as a society, but have you had a good look at how it pertains to you and your family unit?
Everyone’s needs are different, therefore we need to have our own threat assessment and coping strategies. By simply engaging with this and building those strategies, it will be amazing how de-stressing, empowering and practically useful this can be.
So let’s start by mapping out the threats and assess their potency to you and yours. Have you or members of your immediate circle compromised health? Many of us have, even if it’s only an aged relative that needs support. Now let’s see what are the essentials that need to be done.
For most that involves going out to buy food and fill medical prescriptions. Now we map out the potential threats and how to mitigate them during these activities. Prepare before you leave the house by planning out your routes for the day.
If it’s shopping and getting prescriptions filled, check when the shops are likely to be quieter than the norm. Set your objectives, get what you need with the minimum of physical contact and do not get stuck in queues where there is no personal distancing. These are key objectives in lowering the threat to you and yours.
So why not sit down at your kitchen table and map out these threats on paper, or on your computer where you can easily put them into diagrammatical form, making them easier to remember.
Map out the obstacles you think may enhance the overall threat, then develop alternative strategies, you may be surprised at how easy you’ll get around an obstacle when you identify it.
One enterprising Co Wicklow farmer, Harry Williams, realised his age made him vulnerable, but others needed to treat this with the same seriousness as he did. So he created signs with ‘Harry’s House Rules – play your PART’ on his property: :: P – Please wash your hands on arrival;
:: A – Avoid contact and stay two metres apart; :: R – Remain responsible and follow health advice;
:: T – Tell if feeling unwell and self-isolate.
This simple and straightforward taking control of the situation has not just empowered Harry and kept him safe, it’s been uplifting and empowering for a variety of older and younger people isolated by this crisis. You can see it on Twitter at @SharonW_Tweets.
Taking some control of assessing and responding to your threat is a great way of keeping yourself safe and reducing fear and anxiety.
During this crisis we have seen fears needlessly raised by people focusing on social media and other information sources that were less than reliable. Therefore, at this time, get used to being your own foremost intelligence gatherer and analyst.
It’s not as difficult as you might think. Intelligence is information that has been collated and evaluated.
So first off, identify your own intelligence resources.
Most of these will be open source. Grade them for accuracy and authenticity.
The key things you need to keep in mind in testing your sources of information are accuracy and congruency. If you keep to this, you will not fall victim to some of the nonsensical and irresponsible rumours that have been floated out by social media of late.
One simple test is to see if you can establish a “pattern of trust” – has this source of information been reliable in the past? Also, does the information seem congruent, is it in keeping with reality?
These simple tests can stop you falling for porkies both online and by word of mouth in your community.
More importantly, by staying well informed you can debunk nonsense that is spreading and play your part in building community resilience at this time.
Resilience is important because it provides us with a necessary buffer zone so as not to be overwhelmed psychologically by crisis.
My old army comrade Michael O’Brien once taught me about the benefits of starting each morning by concentrating for a few minutes on three good things in your life.
This then kick starts the day from a platform of positivity and can help you withstand whatever comes your way.
Michael, a former special forces officer with our Army Ranger Wing, taught me this and other techniques in Africa.
However, on his website at caherconsultancy.ie he documents lots of other positive psychology techniques that are invaluable in times like this.
Remember, control the controllables, identify and maintain your social network, exercise in whatever capacity you can. Finally, keep perspective and remember this too will pass!
Each morning concentrate for a few minutes on three good things in your life. This kick starts the day