Don’t Cry Wolf
Whether you’re aware of it or not, there are some behaviors or beliefs that we exhibit from time to time that trigger the immune system to either go haywire, stop completely, or overreact.
Let’s start with the first way we do that to ourselves. This might be reminiscent of an old fairytale, but it rings true in 2021 too: don’t cry, wolf. What do we mean?
We live in an age of fear. There was the Bronze Age, and the Gold Age, and the Technology Age, and now we live in the age of fear. The media has finally figured out that if they can scare the crap out of us all the time, we’ll keep coming back to them with hopes that they’ll not frighten us, only for them to frighten us more. To which the cycle just perpetuates and spreads out onto social media, and the next thing you know, everybody is terrified all the time.
So when we say, “Don’t cry wolf”, what we’re really saying is we want to get realistic about the threats that are out there facing us. We want to get realistic about the things that we’re worried about, and the challenges that we’re having.
Maybe in the past you have complained a little bit or talked a little too much about things that are bothering you or the things you’re afraid of. If you’ve spent huge amounts of your time debating whether or not people should wear masks, or who should be in office, or whether or not social distancing is a good idea, or whether or not lockdowns are a good idea, or whether or not COVID-19 is real, or whether 5G is causing it… If you’ve found yourself having intense, serious conversations about any of these types of things, and it’s gone too far, and it’s caused stress for you, then you’re going to cause your body to respond. You’re going to cause your immune system to respond. Then what? It’s going to go haywire.
When you’re talking about different types of fears at different times, all of the sudden each of these fears is triggering your immune system to the point where it doesn’t even know how to defend you so it goes haywire. While it’s going haywire, you’ve left the door wide open for the common cold or a virus.
When we say to stop crying wolf, we’re not saying we shouldn’t speak about these things. What we’re saying is you should notice a difference between speaking about them with a positive constructive intent, and speaking about them because you’re nervous or because it’s starting to get emotional for you.
So for example, if you’re at the table with some friends and you find yourself feeling sad, depressed or angry, you’ve probably gone too far. But if you can have the conversation with a sense of humor, and you feel like you’re making progress, that’s something different.
The more we cry wolf, the harder we’re being on our immune systems. So take the time to listen to your thoughts and beliefs, and then take the steps to move away from those potentially harmful ones.
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