How To Avoid Depression When There Is No International Travel

Still can’t believe that we are almost three weeks into 2021. Come 1^st February, we will be marking the first anniversary of Australia’s international border closure. We may have survived 2020 but we are yet out of the woods. This is confirmed by Dr. Brendan Murphy, Australia’s Health Department Chief today. Dr. Murphy foresees that there will be no international travel for Australian in 2021. Although the Australian government has planned to bring forward its vaccination plan to end of February, it does not mean that everything will be back to normal as soon as we put that needle into our arms. Dr. Brendan Murphy based his prediction on scientific ground. He is confident about the effectiveness of the vaccines to prevent us from being infected. However, nobody is currently sure that those who have been vaccinated cannot still infect other people.

It is an understatement to say that I was disappointed when I first read the news. Before Covid-19 hit, I used to travel back to Penang, Malaysia from Melbourne every year. Last year needless to say I was stuck in Australia and now realized that I may have to spend my 2021 Christmas in Melbourne again. If there is one common thing that Covid-19 has done to all our lives is that we can’t make plans anymore.

I’m sure that I’m not alone in this situation. There are lots of other people all around the world being separated from their loved ones thanks to the pandemic. We basically have two choices, one is to feel helpless and depressed, or there is a better way. Instead of focusing on things that we can’t control, why don’t channel our energy onto something we have control of, the way we response to the situation. We can take this opportunity to slow down and ponder upon our lives. Take this extra time that is now made available since we can’t fly to re-prioritize our personal values and goals.

If I have to name one positive thing that comes out of this pandemic, I’ll call it reflection. We now have the luxury of reflecting on ourselves and explore inwards to investigate what our lives are all about. It definitely isn’t about running around like a headless chicken which we used to do daily in pursuit of materialistic goals. For me, I realized that Covid-19 taught me to cherish family even more from now on. It also gives me opportunity to reassess my relationship with others and with GOD.

The reason why depression is common illness in modern times is because people overestimate in themselves and constantly aiming for higher achievements simply because others around them are also doing it. It is this Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) that makes our lives so competitive and stressful. Too much attention has been focused on ourselves and we believe that everything is within our grasp and control. Covid-19 has proved to us that regardless of how positive minded or rich you are, we are all vulnerable when facing this invisible enemy. It turns out that we are not so great and powerful after all.

Christians believe that GOD is the only ONE who has control of everything. Accept that we are vulnerable, start praying and open our ears. You will be surprise what you can hear when you open yourselves up. Whatever your faith is, rest assured that there is a greater force than all of us. Make use of this down time to tap into that universal force and start healing our souls. Stay safe and pray for each other.

我仍然不能相信，我们已经差不多进入2021年的第三个星期了。2021年2月1日将是澳大利亚关闭国际航线的第一周年。我们虽然已辛苦的度过2020年，但我们仍然还没有走出困境。澳大利亚卫生部局长布伦丹·墨菲（Brendan Murphy）博士今天证实了这一点。墨菲博士预测澳大利亚将不会在2021年重新开放国际边界。尽管澳大利亚政府计划将其疫苗接种计划提前到2月底，但这并不意味着一旦我们接种一切就会恢复正常。布伦丹·墨菲（Brendan Murphy）博士的预测基于科学根据。他对疫苗预防我们被感染的有效性充满信心。但是，目前尚无人能确定已接种疫苗的人不会感染其他人。

这新闻令我很失望。在Covid-19之前，我每年圣诞假期都会从墨尔本回到马来西亚的槟城。去年很明显我不能回去，现在看来今年圣诞节又得在澳洲度过了。

我深信我在这种处境下并不孤单。全世界还有更多人被逼与亲人分离。我们基本上有两种选择，一就是感到无助和沮丧。或我们可以将精力集中在我们可以控制的事情上。我们可以借此机会放慢脚步，沉思我们的生活。

我们可以反思自己，并重新探索我们的内心世界。绝对不要再回去我们过去为了追求物质目标而每天迷糊奔波的日子。对我来说，我意识到Covid-19教会我更懂得去珍惜家人。这也使我有机会重新评估我与他人和神之间的关系。

在现代社会中，抑郁症是一种常见疾病，其原因在于人们高估自己的能力，不断追求更高的成就，因为周围的人也是这样做。正是这种对错过的恐惧使我们的生活充满竞争和压力。太多的注意力都集中在自己身上，我们相信一切都在我们的掌握和控制当中。但是Covid-19向我们证明了，无论您有多积极向上或有多富裕，当面对这个无形的敌人时，人人都非常脆弱。事实证明，我们毕竟不是我们想象中的那么伟大。

基督徒相信只有神是唯一能够掌控一切的。我们必须接受我们的脆弱，开始祈祷并睁大耳朵聆听神的话。

I Name My Fear 'Trump'

I got to know from an article I read recently that on average our mind can generate about 6,000 thoughts every day. That is a huge number! The first thing that came to my mind was, isn’t that a wonderful thing considering we can produce 6,000 business ideas a day! Unfortunately this is not the case. A substantial chunk of that amount are unnecessary thoughts which have no real use to us. Most of them consists of worries and fear that do not pose any real danger to us at that moment.

In the primitive world, human brains were great tools saving us from potential life threatening danger, most of this came from predators around them. They were on constant alert in order to avoid becoming prey to animals which were much stronger and larger than them. The warning triggered in their primitive brains put them in a ‘fight or flight’ situation. That mental stimulation is then directed into the primitive man's muscles to enable them to fight and flee from the situation. In that ancient context, it was very useful because they could convert this warning into physical combat or run for their lives. By doing one of those two things, they made good use of the warning coming from their brain.

Fast forward thousands of years later to 2021, although we have evolved into a much more complex human being, we still have our archaic brain with us, constantly in an alert mode to look out for potential danger. The problem this time is that we can’t really produce any reaction to that warning. Most of us who live in the city settings have no potential threat from a predator, so when our brain trigger a warning, we have no clear target telling us what to do. As a result, that warning will be redirected inwards and stays within us and is transformed into negative energy. This energy usually takes the form of 'worry' or 'fear'. We then find ourselves ruminating about problems that we can’t quite identify. When left unchecked, these negative energies are accumulated inside our body which do damage to our physical and mental health. If this unhealthy thinking pattern occurs on a regularly basis, we may end up in depression.

Most experts in the field of mental illness advise that we give this ‘worry’ or ‘fear’ a name. The moment we can identify it by naming it, it turns out to be not so scary anymore. We are fearful of things we don’t understand. That’s exactly what happen if we can’t identify it or we try to avoid thinking about it. This is exactly why Covid-19 is so scary because it is invisible, it can be anywhere and there is still a lot we don't about the virus and its prolonged effects on our bodies. Also, if we ignore our fear, we are actually helping it to grow stronger in our mind. So identify our worry is the first thing we need to do to beat it.

For me, I’m going to name my ‘worry’ TRUMP. I got this inspiration from recent political development in the United States. Like Donald Trump who kept shouting out loud about voter fraud without presenting any evidence, our worry will constantly spread lies inside our heads without any concrete justification whatsoever. Like President Trump, worry will incite fear in our mind of imminent danger if we don’t pay attention to it. Another reason why I chose TRUMP is because we all know now that he lost the election, so the end result is confirmed. Likewise, our worry will lose and we will stand tall victorious in the end.

So what are you going to name the ‘worry’ or ‘fear’ in your head?

最近我读了一篇文章说，我们平均每天大约有6千个思想出现在我们脑海中。这是一个多么巨大的数字啊！我想若我们每天可以想出6千个生意构思那该多好啊！不幸的是其中这大部分都是一些不必要的想法，对我们毫无实际用途。很多这些思想都是忧虑和恐惧。

在原始时代，当人类面临生命危险时，我们的大脑是一个很有用的工具。原始人无时无刻都会面临周围巨兽的杀生之祸。人类必须保持警惕，以避免成为比他们强得多的动物的猎物。原始人大脑中触发的警告使他们们处于“战斗或逃跑”的状态。在那个古老的背景下，它非常有用，因为我们可以将这种警告转化为应战或逃跑。

但到了数千年后的今天，尽管我们已经发展成为一个文明的人类，但我们仍然拥有那古老的大脑，每分每秒都处于警戒状态，以预防潜在的危险。问题是我们这次不能再对任何警告做出应对的反应。对于我们大多数居住在城市环境中的人并不会受到野兽的侵犯，因此当我们的大脑触发警告时，我们没有一个明确的目标告诉我们该怎么做。结果，这警告就逗留在我们的脑海中，并转变为担忧。如果持续放任不管，这些忧虑就会堆积起来。当这种不健康的思维不断的发生时，我们可能最终陷入抑郁。

精神病专家建议我们给这个“担忧”或“恐惧”起个名字。一旦我们可以通过命名来识别它，事实证明它不再那么可怕了。人总会对我们不了解的事情产生恐惧。如果我们无法识别它，或者我们试图避免去想它，情况会更严重。当我们忽略它时，我们实际上是在帮助它在我们的脑海中继续成长。

我把我的“担忧”命名为特朗普。我从美国最近的政治发展中得到了灵感。就像特朗普（Donald Trump）那样一直高喊选举被欺诈，我们的担忧在没有任何具体理由的情况下继续散布在我们的脑海中。像特朗普一样，担忧会不断激起我们对将来的恐惧。我选择特朗普的另一个原因是因为我们现在都知道他输了选举，换句话说我们看到了最终的结果。同样的，我们的担忧将会消失，最终胜利者肯定是我们。

您又会给您的“担忧”或“恐惧”取什么名字呢？