I did not succumb to information pressure for a long time and deliberately stayed away from the topic of the virus. I didn’t think that all this was nonsense, but I decided not to pay too much attention to it and just follow the recommendations: use antiseptics more often, don’t touch your face, reduce the number of contacts, take care of yourself and your health. And live on. But the constant escalation of the situation eventually took its toll on me, and in the last few days I noticed that there was more anxiety. And since now we are in the same psychological field, I would like to share my thoughts about what affects the our current situation and how I personally am trying to cope with it. Virus: crisis of illusions Feeling anxious, there is a temptation to describe everything that is happening from a psychological point of view - to push it into the framework of some concepts and categories, and then give recommendations on what to do with it do. Thus, turning a difficult and ambiguous situation into a clear and understandable one. But I will not do this. Because at the moment, simplifying the situation is avoiding reality and creating illusions. The illusion that everything can be fixed, repaired, stopped, simply because we don’t like it. This would be a denial of reality and the limitations from which we have become unaccustomed. After all, we really live in a time when a lot is possible: change jobs, not be afraid of diseases that could have killed us 100 years ago, get quick treatment, receive emergency care, buy any products, travel, change equipment, and so what? — organs. According to some reports, David Rockefeller underwent 2 kidney transplants and 7 heart transplants during his life, and died at the age of 102. But now this illusion of “everything is possible” is being destroyed. It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone turns out to be vulnerable: a child, an adult, an official, a janitor, a poor man, a rich man, a woman, a man, a worker, and his boss. There is a lot of subjective security in illusions, so no one wants part with them. And we distort our perceptions to continue to believe that we are in control, that we are in control of our own lives, that there is justice somewhere, that someone owes us something, and that, of course, “the world has plans.” at our expense." The idea that the world owes us alleviates anxiety, because all that remains is to convey this, to no one knows and how, and everything will work out. To maintain illusions in the current situation, we can: - Don’t believe our eyes and think: “No, this doesn’t happen, it’s not for real... This is some kind of nonsense! Why can’t I leave the house now?!”;—Look for an explanation: “These are all political games and are actually fake!”;—Be indignant: “Well, they can’t come up with a vaccine or a cure! Yes, we send ships into space! That they can’t cope with some kind of virus?!”;— Finding the culprits: “Politicians who do not support the people are to blame for everything; tourists traveling to infected countries; people who do not comply with quarantine; doctors who don’t take off their shoes in the apartment”;—Being angry so as not to notice your anxiety, fear, grief, collapse of expectations, puzzlement, envy. Coming to terms with the changed reality is not easy. All these methods that I wrote about above: denial, rationalization, searching for the guilty, anger, resentment, etc. — the necessary stages of accepting something new that we didn’t really want. Knowing this, you can spend less energy on maintaining illusions and direct them towards acceptance and starting life in a new reality. Which will become familiar over time, because it may no longer be the way it was before. Why am I doing all this? Moreover, although illusions reduce anxiety, they do not last long. And after a while you will again have to look for confirmation of them in order to calm down and worry less. Trying to maintain illusions in the current situation is like trying to save the Titanic by scooping water out of it with a toy sand scoop. In contrast, acceptance means being sad, angry, and lining up for a lifeboat. And I try my best to continue living, accepting the new reality, and not?