In the last week, the coronavirus has escalated from a serious issue to a world pandemic. Governments are implementing never-before thought of travel bans, isolation practices, and extreme measures to try and control this thing. If you're not feeling at least a little bit afraid by now, you're in the minority. 

I'm currently stuck in Utila, Honduras, a place I never thought I'd be during a global crisis. While I'm on a relatively safe island with pretty good food security, the situation keeps getting scarier. The regulations are getting stricter with each passing day, and it's a big unknown around how badly this will escalate.

At this moment in time, the Honduran government has cut our island off from the rest of the country. The grocery stores have been picked over, with no news of when they'll send more supplies to us. Paper mask and glove-wearing military personnel are roaming the island, enforcing an 8 pm curfew, and dispelling large groups of people. You can go to jail if they catch you drinking, with fines if they find you in groups of over 30.

Although this island grows a bunch of its food and we might be completely fine (even way better off than some places), it's hard not to get caught up in patterns of fear about all of the terrifying things that could happen during this. However, being afraid doesn't help anyone; in fact, it makes things way worse. So what can we do when we get stuck in fear?

Take Time To Process

Nothing ever got solved by pretending it doesn't exist. What's happening right now is a big deal, so take the time to sit with it and feel whatever you're feeling. It's okay to feel freaked out or worried for a bit, as long as you don't let those feelings control you.

Take the time to think critically and get educated about what's going on. Stop listening to hype news that sells headlines by telling you how awful everything is. Read the science, listen to people who are experts, and do what they recommend.

However, once you've gotten educated and prepared about the situation, let it go. You control your thoughts; your thoughts don't control you. Once you know that there's nothing left you can do, there's no point in stewing about what may or may not happen. Letting your thoughts spiral is the best way to lose touch with reality, which can cause behaviors that will make the situation worse. At the very least, for yourself, if not others.

Move Your Body

When we get scared, we tense up, telling our sympathetic nervous system to create adrenaline and cortisol. The point of stress is to get our bodies prepared for fight or flight when we're in danger, and the biological response to stress should be a burst of energy that burns off stress hormones.

However, when we're in situations like this, our body doesn't get the chance to respond to our feelings of fear. There's no tiger we can run from, this virus is invisible, and stress won't help us fight it. So we close down, we hunch up, and our body creates even more hormones to compensate. The cycle that this creates makes our bodies feel even more uncomfortable and helpless.

The great thing about this is that almost any form of motion can remove these hormones from your body. I know we may all be stuck inside, but instead of just fear-watching tv, take the time to move. Do yoga, dance around, learn tai chi, follow a workout video. Doing anything at all will increase your sense of well-being, pump up your endorphins, and help remove your fear.

Help Others

When we feel afraid, our focus gets narrow, and we can only think about what's best for ourselves. That's fine if we're dealing with immediate danger (like the tiger), but bad when it comes to sustained issues. Problems like this require long term problem solving and community participation, so we need to get our brains out of fight or flight.

One of the best ways to move your brain out of its fear is to think about others. Start to focus on what someone more disadvantaged than you might need in this situation and then brainstorm ways you can help. Doing this not only will make your community better, but it will also make you feel less afraid.

Doing good is proven to help reduce stress and increase feelings of well-being. When we nurture others, it positively affects our physiology and releases oxytocin, the natural cure for fear. When we help others, we're also helping ourselves, and the whole community benefits as a result.

Be Grateful

The science behind gratitude is pretty compelling. People who have regular gratitude practices are proven to have more positive emotions, feel more engaged with and happy about their lives, show more compassion, experience less stress, sleep better, and have more robust immune systems. No matter how rough your current situation, there's always something to be grateful for. 

Gratitude is an affirmation of the world being a good place. It reminds us of all the beauty in the world, and all of the benefits we receive on a daily basis. It helps us block our natural tendencies towards negativity that ruins our happiness. When you're in gratitude, it's pretty impossible to experience feelings of resentment, anger, or fear.

It also helps us realize where goodness stems from, which is often our community. It strengthens relationships because it makes us understand how much other's support us. It reminds us to acknowledge other people, which in turn makes us feel more connected and benevolent to the world around us.

One of the best things to do when you're experiencing fear is to take some time to be grateful for what you have. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, turn your thoughts to all of the ways you're supported and okay. Spend some time writing them down or tell them to others. It will naturally remove the stress from your body, making you calmer, better able to problem solve, and happier about your situation.

Get Creative

We're currently in a situation, unlike anything we've experienced before. In all likelihood, this pandemic will not only lose us lives but also bankrupt many of us and tank world economies. It's hard not to get overwhelmed when thinking about the possible outcomes.

Since we've never experienced this before, we're going to need to use creative problem solving to figure out solutions where conventional thinking has failed. It's time to play, dream, and imagine. It's time to innovate and move the world in exciting new directions. Imagination is the key to solving this, and it needs to start with everyone.

Spend some time thinking about what you want your future to look like. Draw it, write it, talk about it. Be positive; get excited about the potential. Don't limit yourself but think as far outside of the box as you can imagine. As an artist, I play with this all of the time, and it's one of the skills that help me turn the impossible into reality. I know that I can create anything from thought, but it has to start with the dream.

One of the greatest things about using your imagination like this is that your brain doesn't actually differentiate between your thoughts and your experiences. It is one of the principles of positive visualization. When you let your imagination joyfully run wild with potential, excellent physical responses follow. When we play with possibilities, we make ourselves happier with the potential of creating real change.

We Can Do This

I know that it's really scary for some of us right now. It's hard to be locked in our houses, hard not obsessively to watch the news. It's going to take some real self-work to be calm and productive about this. However, I do believe that the best way to get through this is by taking care of ourselves and remaining a community.

The whole world is our community right now, and we need to have each other's backs. If we do the work to dilute our fear and help each other, I believe that we can come out of this stronger.

There are a lot of people I've met who think that travel is a young person's game. It's something that you're supposed to do when you're 20 and figuring out yourself, but after that, you're supposed to stabilize and settle down. However, travel isn't just about having fun. Science proves that it's healthy for you in a variety of ways. 

Decades ago, public thought didn't grasp the link between diet and exercise making you healthy. Researchers are now saying the same things about travel adding to lifespan and capacity. As these benefits become more widely studied, t's not too far-fetched to imagine a time where doctors will prescribe a trip as a necessary part of a healthy life.

1. Travel Makes You Physically Healthier

You may not feel very healthy when you're throwing up in some foreign land from some lousy food you just ate, but travel substantially boosts your immune system. When you travel, you expose yourself to new bacteria that help you create stronger antibodies. When you move between different locations, you force your body to adapt to thousands of new bacteria, which will make you stronger in the long run.

When you're on the road, you're also proven to be less stressed. Studies have found that after only three days, travelers feel more rested, less anxious and in a better mood while increasing their overall activity and fitness levels. Some studies also show a compelling connection that in certain groups, this change in stress lowers the risk of heart attack and disease. These improvements don't immediately go away after returning home either but will add to lifespan and overall wellbeing.

Travelers are also more active and less stationary on trips. Because there has already been a buy-in to get to your new location, people are more motivated to get out and experience it. You're likely to walk more than you would at home, try a new sport, or engage in a physical activity like hiking or swimming. It's also more likely that these things become a part of your daily experience while traveling, and you're less likely to do sedentary actions like watching tv.

2. Travel Exposes You to Healing Properties

When you travel, you tend to visit sites that you don't have access to at home, and many of those have healing properties. Soaking in the mineral-rich waters of a hot spring, swimming in the salty waters of the ocean, or even just getting out into the sun can expose you to things that will add to your overall wellness. Getting outside exposes us to many properties that can heal, uplift, and rejuvenate. Health and Wellness Tourism has even become a huge part of the travel industry, with a resurgence of people pursuing health-related amenities. Resorts and spas have surged in popularity, as well as activities like yoga, fitness, and lifestyle retreats. Whether that's the focus of your trip or not, you're more likely to participate in a wellness activity while you travel than you would be at home.

3. Travel Creates New Neural Pathways

When you explore, you naturally have to problem solve and adapt to more situations. You have to meet new people, encounter new languages, deal with other cultures, and solve new problems. Neural pathways are created due to environment and habitat and are sensitive to change. When there are new sounds, smells, languages, tastes, and sensations, you're telling your brain to be more aware and to spark new synapses.

When you put your brain in different experiences, it is proven to increase your cognitive flexibility, creativity, ability to make connections and integrate ideas. It's has been shown that those who work and study aboard are more open and emotionally stable. So the more you engage with new environments, the more activated your brain will become, and the more likely you are to stave off brain degradation and disease.

4. Travel Creates Meaningful Social Experiences

Humans aren't meant to be isolated creatures. A crucial part of our physical health comes from having meaningful social connections with others. When we don't have functional interactions, it increases the chance that we'll feel sensations of loneliness, depression, and pessimism. When people stay home, they are more likely to do similar actions every day, which lessens the change of getting out of unhealthy patterns of isolation.

When you travel, it forces you into situations where you have to connect with others. Even if you're alone traveling or backpacking, it puts you into scenarios where the only way to solve specific problems is to meet people and make new friends. You will also be encountering other travelers who will be in a similar state of openness to connection. Engaging in this process will increase your confidence in human interactions.

Travel also deepens the connections with those around you because peak experiences make for more intense and lasting memories. It will also make you less biased as you connect with others who are different than you and increase your skillset for communication and conflict resolution. All of these things are lasting skills that will improve your quality of life, even after your trip is over.

5. Travel Broadens Your Perspective

Travel helps you broaden your view of the world and yourself. By putting yourself into new situations, you have to learn to live outside your comfort zone and find the beauty in different circumstances. While this may make you uncomfortable at times, it allows you to transform how you understand the world.

Studies even prove an increased chance of epiphanies while traveling. There is also an increased ability to problem-solve issues we otherwise have been stuck on. When you're in the middle of a problem, it's often hard to detach yourself from it enough to come to any resolution. By separating from a familiar environment, you gain psychological distance from a situation at hand. Getting away from where you live is important because it's often the only way you can achieve a new perspective.

Travel Helps You Live Longer and Better

With all of these aspects combined, travel is one of those rare things that not only increases your life expectancy but also increases your quality of life. When you take a trip, even if it's short, it boosts your immune system, heart, brain, capacity, connections, and mood, keeping your body healthy inside and out. All of this means that travel increases your chance of living longer and having more fun doing it.

Want more travel content? Follow me at @jodithesharp for daily updates! 

To live in this world 

you must be able 

to do three things. 

to love what is mortal; 

to hold it 

against your bones knowing 

your own life depends on it; 

and, when the time comes to let it go, 

to let it go” 

-Mary Oliver

Photos from a grieving ritual, performed Montreal, 2017

So this weekend, a good friend of mine unexpectedly passed away. A key member of my community, it was a shock to all of us to lose him right now. One of the things that I keep hearing people say is, "how do I deal with death?" Many have no idea how to handle his passing. For many people I know, it was the first close friend they lost.

It's not the first friend of mine who's passed, and certainly won't be the last. It doesn't get more comfortable, but I think that it's often even harder than it should be because we come from a culture that's terrible in dealing with death.

As a western culture, we like to ignore that death exists at all. Until it confronts us, we go through life with the perspective that our loved ones and we will live forever. And when death happens, it blows us sideways because we'd forgotten all about it as a possibility. We become wholly distraught and at a loss for how to handle it.

But death is the only real certainty of life. And building a skill-set around how to deal with it is an essential part of being human. Everyone deals with grief in their own way; it's never going to be easy or comfortable. Here are a couple of things that I've found have worked for me.

Give Yourself Time

In dealing with death, there is no timeframe for your grief. After first losing someone, the pain may be constant, or it may come in waves of intensity. Let it happen when it comes, and be gentle with yourself.

If you need to take a couple of months off work or away from people, do it. If you need to go on a spiritual journey to Tibet for four years to handle it, do it. If it only takes you a week before you feel a sense of stability, that's okay too. There are no rules for how long any of this should take. Let the way you feel guide how much time you need to dedicate to sitting with your feelings. 

Let Yourself Feel It

It will hurt. It is supposed to hurt. It is a big fucking deal to know that a soul has left your waking life. You will miss them. You will be surprised by the finality of it and the hole that they've left.

When you're alone or with people who can support you, do whatever you need to do to realize your emotions. Yell, scream, cry, punch a pillow, laugh, write, stare into space. Any feeling you have is valid. Don't keep it inside your body. Feel your emotions. If you don't give yourself time to feel them, they will come out in times where you may not be in a supportive space to handle them. 

It's Okay to Need a Break

There will be times when the grief is too much to handle, and you can't sit with it anymore. At this point you may need to turn on a tv show, or go out for a drink, or go dance and laugh. It is okay to need to numb the pain at times. It's okay to take a break from the heartbreak.

It's common to need to take a minute, and then it's common to feel shame around needing that time. There have been situations where I've gone out and had a good night and then felt so much guilt about trying to be happy when something so tragic has happened. But speaking from experience, that guilt is not useful. Sometimes you need to cap the pain and remind yourself that even in tragedy, the world is still a beautiful place. 

This pain may be with you for a long time, you need to find sustainable ways to feel it and still live. Your friend wouldn't want you to live in misery for the rest of your life, so take the time to enjoy your life if you need it. It's okay.

Be Around Others Who Are Feeling the Same Way

If you're feeling this distraught around the loss of someone you loved than other people are feeling it too. It's easy to feel like you're going through this alone, but you aren't. Coming together as a community during this time is essential in staving off the hopelessness.

Make sure to share your memories and joys about the life lived. The soul you've lost may be gone, but their memories are not. Tell the people around you how they positively impacted your life, how they made you feel joy and love. Look through photos and feel the gratitude for the connection that you had. By honouring their life you extend their impact. In this way they will still be with you for as long as you have memories in your head. 

Rituals Are Useful

You may feel like the stuffy form of funerals doesn't do life justice, but don't discount the healing that rituals can have. The point of a ritual is to acknowledge the impact of that soul and release some of the pain. The goal is to help start to bring closure to that loss.

There are many traditional rituals around death. You can look at them and see if something resonates with you, or you can make up your own. The goal is to do a set of actions that brings you into remembrance of that unique life. The focus of the ritual is to let go of some of your intense feeling around the loss. A feeling of releasing them into the unknown, and coming to a sense of peace is the ideal outcome. You can do whatever you need as often as you need it to try to get to a sense of peace around it.

Do What is Right For You

No matter who you are or who you've lost, you are allowed to grieve in whatever way works for you. Do your best to stay in touch with what you need, rather than doing what you assume grief is required to look like. You may feel these feelings for a long time, or even in waves throughout the rest of your life. It is good to feel whatever you feel however you need to handle it. 

The Point of Death

It is important to keep things in perspective as well. Because at the end of the day, death has an essential job. It reminds us that life is fleeting and that every single moment is precious. The goal shouldn't be to live forever but to create memories and contributions to the world that will be meaningful.

My friend knew that. He contributed to his community deeply, he loved his friends and family so much, and he was always up to living a full and vibrant life. Even though these feelings suck real hard right now, I wouldn't trade my friendship with him for anything.

Death is a part of life, but I always want to keep in perspective that death makes our lives meaningful. I will use this incident to feel so much gratitude for my connection to this person, and as a reminder to make sure I live life to the fullest.