A Tale of Two Fears

Exploring our productive and destructive fears of COVID-19

Fear.

There are two types of fears. Productive and Destructive.

Productive fear is the type of fear that keeps us alive every day. From turning the light on when it is dark to putting out the campfire after an evening with friends & family to using only sidewalks as a pedestrian, we use productive fear every single day to stay alive. This type of fear makes us take cautious measures before we do things that we do on a regular basis to get through our day.

Then there is the destructive fear. The type of fear that pushes us to lose control.

In the context of the rapidly spreading global viral disease called COVID-19, it’s important to know the difference between these two types of fears, especially in the United States, where we don’t know yet how good or bad the next few weeks or months will be for us and where our government has failed us already in a proportion which only history will be able judge.

Here is a blog post from an ICU physician Dr. Daniele Macchini from Bergamo, Italy, that went ‘viral’ yesterday (March 9, 2020).

He starts of by saying..

I may be repeating myself, but I want to fight this sense of security that I see…