
Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you? - novice1234
I see the news and see things are getting worse. I have developed anxiety. Also I have WFH mandatory. I don&#x27;t seem to be handling it very well. Do u have any tips and methods that help you.
======
keiferski
Basically every other generation before you in history faced a much greater
threat with far less resources, technology, and desire to cooperate. Cold War,
WW2, WW1, American Civil War, Chinese Civil War, Napoleonic Wars, French
Revolution, Black Death, Mongol Invasions, etc. since the beginning of time.

I personally find it comforting to know that no matter how bad this virus
gets, it’s essentially nothing when placed within the context of human
history.

~~~
aweiland
This is a great perspective. Thanks!

~~~
devchix
I take the dimmer view: this is not even a _real_ emergency, and we're not
doing very well. I'm not down-playing the seriousness of the pandemic, by
"real" I mean it's not a dirty nuke, a large-scale bio-chemical act of
terrorism, a virus like ebola where death is faster and more graphic,
geographical disaster of continental proportion, or an alien invasion (could
happen - we think about it, write about it, make lots of movies). The guidance
had been generally: stay home for two weeks. There's not a disruption in the
manufacturing of toilet paper, 90% of which is made in the US. Yet we have
panic buying of everything, markets down in historic marker, everybody acts
like they can't make the next payment (not sure if true, everybody acts like
it though). We are so under-prepared for anything really serious.

~~~
mrlala
>panic buying of everything

It's not panic buying when you are basically told to stay in your home for
weeks on end. You say two weeks- but in Washington here our schools are closed
for SIX WEEKS. People want to be prepared. I have kids, they eat like adults.
Do you realize how big of food shopping trips people normally do every 1-2
weeks anyway with full families? And we simply don't know if production is
going to slow down, how fast stores with be able to resupply various items.
Might be no big deal or might be a problem.

So I think you really confuse panic buying with being prepared.. having to go
to the store every few days because you don't stock up pretty much defeats the
purpose of what we are doing.

>markets down in historic marker

And why should it not be? The markets were already pushing themselves to the
limits.. you add a simple normal reversal on top of this mess and you get
exactly what we are seeing. Plus, there is no modern equivalent for the
economic impact this will have. It's going to spiral and seep into every
aspect of the economy. Why shouldn't the market plummet? The uncertainty is
almost unfathomable.

>everybody acts like they can't make the next payment

Well.. you have tons of people who simply cannot work right now. Enough people
in the country/world live essentially paycheck to paycheck anyway- now
suddenly we take away potentially weeks/months of income? What do you expect?

>We are so under-prepared for anything really serious.

Yes and no. This situation just shows how utterly fragile all parts of the
economy depend on each other, how much supply chains are linked, and how much
we take it for granted that everything is always working as usual.

~~~
true_religion
I am curious if other people are shifting their buying habits. For my family,
we have been buying more staple goods that keep for a long period of time like
rice and beans. Typically, we don’t eat either of those, but that’s the only
thing that will keep you fed if grocers are empty for a month.

I think this shift of buying could be called preparedness, but in another way
it’s a panic because it’s a serious change in behavior.

~~~
jmalicki
I have been buying fewer Staples and more perishables - because no staples are
left on store shelves, and meat and produce are the only food left to buy.

------
muzani
I'm enjoying it. As I see it society goes two ways during hard times: people
either become selfish survivalists, or they become more compassionate.

Lockdowns are great - they keep the assholes away from you and lock you in
with the people who will live and die with you (or they can be hell). If
you're not with someone, maybe you should find someone? Move in with a friend
because loneliness will make you very depressed.

Use it to lock away the rest of the world. Instead of swiping on Facebook or
thinking of what clubs to go to, you can cuddle with a significant other, or
make pancakes with a friend. Watch TV together. Build little LEGO structures.
Find the best way to make tea or fried eggs.

I like to focus on the little things and this is the time when all of them
will be magnified. So what if you lose your job, your career, your life's
savings? There will be a different world next month. Just enjoy the sunset.

~~~
okareaman
You impress me as a healthy person who is financially secure and/or has a
strong safety net of family/friends/governmental support, who finds it not
difficult to stay on the sunny side of life. I'm not sure you have much to
offer people who are struggling with health problems, overwhelming family
responsibilities and/or financial insecurity as we head into a recession. Some
people are wondering how they are going to support themselves and where they
are going to live in the near future, so "Just enjoy the sunset" comes off as
a little vacuous. edit: sp

~~~
muzani
Optimism is a skill, and takes a lot of practice. The less you have to be
happy about, the harder you have to look for a small thing that gives you
happiness. Comics and clowns rarely come from happy environments.
Suppressing/blinding yourself to unhappy things is unhealthy and dangerous.
It's better to find the beauty or humor in darkness.

Everyone dies. Some of us will die in the next month or lose loved ones, and
worse. When things are out of control, that's when it's most important to have
control over your emptions.

------
zabana
I simply don't watch, listen or expose myself to any type of news (except HN).
I've essentially blocked every single mainstream news outlet (TV, Press,
Radio) on twitter, I'm not on facebook so I would suggest you suspend your
account if you have one (but keep messenger if you use it), don't be tempted
to google anything related to that "toilet paper virus".

This has two main benefits IMO:

1\. you short circuit the mainstream media's agenda: provoke fear to generate
clicks and keep your eyeballs stuck on the screen which means more revenue for
them.

2\. When you put yourself in situations of severe stress, you release that
stress hormone (whose name I'm unable to recall) which can and will have a
negative effect on your body putting you at even more risk of becoming ill.
(this has happened to me earlier last year)

Last piece of advice: in your downtime, try to call your friends, family
members if you're on your own, play video games with them online, have fun,
watch comedy movies / shows etc ... Don't let this get to your head, that's
how you beat the virus.

I say all this because in my area, the vibe and energy is so off and negative
it feels like everytime I go out I'm about to meet to group of zombies ready
to eat me alive (a la walking dead).

Just wash your hands, and the rest will fall into place. At this point there's
not much one can do, people die everyday from countless numbers of illnesses
and diseases, the world will move on eventually.

I don't know if it's a western thing or what, but it feels like people in this
part of the world are craving for a catastrophic scenario like that to unfold
so they can feel part of something greater than themselves, it's quite
unsettling.

Oh, and also, use this time to re-evaluate your goals and aspirations in this
life, because you've only got one. Apologize to the people you hurt and
forgive those who've hurt you, make peace with yourself and smile to people
when you see them, lift the atmosphere up a bit, because the media sure isn't
going to do that.

Finally, as one meme I've found on the www yesterday so brilliantly put it:
WW3 never happened and the Australia fires eventually stopped.

Sorry I went on a bit of rant, but I had to get this off my chest.

Cheers mate

~~~
jordanpg
> craving for a catastrophic scenario like that to unfold so they can feel
> part of something greater than themselves

This reminds me of a recent piece in the NYT about despair[1]. I thought that
a discussion of meaning was conspicuously absent. I think that religion and
civic life has so utterly failed to provide any substantive meaning of life
for most people in a manifestly secular world, that is isn't the least bit
surprising to me that a growing number of people are experiencing existential
despair.

A genuine catastrophic scenario can easily be seen as a source of richness,
excitement, and meaning that many deeply crave, even if they don't realize it
consciously. We humans are starved for such meaning.

[1] [http://archive.ph/Qhjyn](http://archive.ph/Qhjyn)

~~~
cameronbrown
This is why I really do believe that family (or the opportunity to have a fam)
is all we have.

~~~
kranner
What about art, mathematics, fiction, music, etc?

~~~
jordanpg
My instinct tells me that the fraction of the human population which derives
substantial, enduring meaning from art, mathematics, fiction, music, etc. is
extremely slim. These things are complementary or perhaps supplementary to a
larger void of cosmic meaning.

As Camus wrote:

> There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.
> Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the
> fundamental question of philosophy.

To me, art, mathematics, fiction, music, etc. are not what comes to mind when
I answer that question.

~~~
kranner
As I recall about The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus concluded that life is
fundamentally absurd and meaningless, and "what counts ... is the most
living." The absurd man of Camus "enjoys a freedom with regard to common
rules." [had to look that up]

So I don't think Camus would necessarily accept family as universally what
makes life worth living, if that is what you meant.

To me, the rejection of art, mathematics, fiction, music makes life that much
less worth living. Family is one of my essential values, but so are many other
things. It is not a competition in any sense.

------
rocqua
Leaning on friends, talking about my issues. Being open about my problems to
management. And being OK (as in accepting) that I am not doing OK (as in not
doing very well).

A lot of my friends also have free time. So a lot of doing stuff together
remotely. Some of doing stuff together physically in small groups. And mostly,
just a lot more contact with people on WhatsApp.

I read some advice that said, only check the news on e.g. 2 set moments in the
day. I am trying to follow that. As for anxiety about how this is going to
play out, I have accepted that things will be touch for a while. But I have
faith that, here in the Netherlands at least, society will survive. And I have
enough buffers (financial and supply wise) that I believe I am setup well
enough that I can last longer than most. Hence, I think drastic measures will
be taken to protect most people before I really start feeling the pinch.

My advice to you: stay in contact with people. Be open about your anxiety to
them. Don't be an alarmist to your friends if you can help it.

As for work, I just sent them an e-mail saying "I ain't doing very well" with
an implicit 'deal with it' in there.

~~~
japhyr
> I read some advice that said, only check the news on e.g. 2 set moments in
> the day.

This is really healthy advice. My approach has been to establish some routine
for checking news. At first it was whenever possible, to figure out what to do
in a country that was being misguided by its own government (US). Then, when
our family made its decisions about how to respond (isolate), we read news off
and on throughout the day, and spent much of our time contacting people we
have decent relationships with, trying to help them understand to take things
seriously. Now that we're mostly in our own house and just waiting it out,
we're starting to just check things a couple times a day. I've found it's
healthy for me to not check news just before bed. Check in the evening, then
have time to digest what's happening and let go of it enough to get a good
night's sleep and try to stay healthy.

Reminder for everyone in an area where peak caseload is still in front of you,
we want to stay healthy and uninjured not just to avoid coronavirus, but also
because an overwhelmed health care system won't respond well to any other
injuries or illnesses either. So now, 9yo son, you can't build a tower to the
ceiling and climb up on it because there's a small chance you'll fall and
break your arm and we don't want you trying to mend a broken arm in an
entirely stressed health care situation. I am normally a much bigger fan of
natural consequences than I am right now.

Stay safe everyone, and give yourself space to let go when you can.

------
patrickk
A decade ago my country was hammered by the financial crisis. I made the
decision to stop actively seeking out the latest news, apart from skimming HN
or Reddit and seeing headlines by accident since it was all negative,
negative, negative stuff for several years in a row. I don't stress about
events as much as people around me, and it doesn't negatively affect my life
in any way, in fact it probably improves my mental health. I don't watch TV
apart from sport, and don't seek out information online apart from my hobbies
and interests. I don't actively use FB or Twitter either.

------
tanyatik
I think what helps me the most is trying to focus as much as I can at what I
can do and what's in area of my control.

For me, it's making sure I have followed the recommendations of health
organisations in my country, making sure I get my work done and do what I do
well every day, making sure I take care of my health, reaching out to my
colleagues / friends if I need help or they need help.

But most of all, it's focus. I am training better focus via Headspace app and
it's really helping.

------
jannes
I am notorious tab hoarder (100+ tabs in Firefox open right now).

I have decided that now is a good time to go through all those pre-pandemic
tabs. This limits my exposure to covid news and allows me to stay sane.

~~~
sten
Thank you sir. I know what I can do for the next few days!

------
veganjay
This is specifically to the OP, but also others that have generalized anxiety.
Counseling can be very helpful and hopefully many can support remote sessions.
From personally speaking, what I also have found has helped:

\- trying to be helpful to others - this single mental attitude can improve
overall mood, make one feel more connected, and has a positive effect on the
world

\- have hobbies and activities that are engaging and that you look forward to.
For me this is boardgaming, which has been a bit of a challenge given the
social distancing, but fortunately there are online options that are helpful

\- reminding myself that this is temporary. Although I haven't quite been
through anything exactly the same, I have been through difficult experiences
in the past and have grown due to them.

------
m0llusk
Finally getting around to coding that side project that kept getting pushed to
the back burner.

This is a specific instance of the general strategy I call "PARSE" which is an
acronym for Positive Actions Reasoned Service Experiments. Positivity comes
first because negativity is a terrible and ever present trap, actions are
fundamentally different from plans and rumination, reason because it is always
worth stepping back to make sure what you are doing actually makes sense,
service because being fully human means helping others, and experiments
because ultimately anything you can do is just an attempt to try something out
that will lead to examination of results and honing of observations, methods,
ideas, and so on.

------
34679
1\. This, too, shall pass.

2\. We're all gonna die. But for most, not today, and not from this.

------
mam2
I never stress about things i cannot influence, so Im mostly focusing on
préventing my parents from visiting me...

------
rl3
My reaction to the news is largely disappointment. This didn't have to happen
the way it did.

I'm a bit uneasy and quite pessimistic about the whole thing. The possibility
it's going to get bad beyond what anyone can currently imagine isn't zero. One
month ago we wouldn't have imagined where we are today.

That said, the majority of my life up until now has consisted of considerable
real life social isolation, so the social distancing as of late is basically
business as usual.

------
Zhyl
Humour. We Brits have a fairly dark gallows humour anyway and we also
genuinely have a cultural sense of 'grin and bear it', 'stiff upper lip',
'keep calm and carry on' also called 'blitz spirit'.

Today, after the UK generally and my office specifically required working from
home, I made subtle references to this sketch [1] from TV show 'That Mitchell
and Webb Look'. I make standups light and breezy; I add a lighter tone to
emails.

The important thing for me is not to undermine the seriousness of the
situation that we're in - in many ways I'd like to emphasise it and embolden
it. On the other hand, I want to reduce the mental strain on people and to
keep spirits high. High spirits, high productivity and everyone feels like
they're being included and that everything is being taken care of.

Now is the time for managers to shine. We have the responsibilities of looking
after our people, especially in a profession such as software engineering
which could potentially be isolating and intimidating.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnd1jKcfBRE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnd1jKcfBRE)

~~~
xtracto
We Mexicans are kind of like that (shit.. we make a party of/for the dead).
People here are joking so much about Coronavirus that sometimes it feels like
they don't care.

I've most likely got corona myself (waiting for the pcr test results) and am
isolating. I setup my man cave as a "camping experience " since I'll be
staying here for some time.

------
cjslep
Make happy events at home and celebrate them.

\- Learned to bake my first loaf of bread from scratch. Wife and I celebrate
by eating some of the bread together.

\- Germinating my seeds in seed trays for the first time. Food stuffs like
corn and bell pepper plants, in addition to flowers. Taking pictures every day
as the corn and red cabbage sprouts.

\- Playing with our dog extra, since he is depressed I'm home and ignore him
for most of the morning and afternoon to WFH.

------
bk66
No magic bullet but I changed what I do on the net.

Block/reduce usage of sites that are abt mindless consumption (hacker news
encourages mindless consumption too - I don't really need to see most of the
stuff that shows up here surrounding the tech stuff I care about)

Stopped using YouTube/Reddit/FB which I think has helped.

Twitter I still find useful but I Enable it only on the weekends for few hrs
to catch up with messages and ppls feeds.

Also blocked most news sites (nytimes/CNN/fox/wapo/bbc...basically any news
site where they threw opinion/infotainment at me on the side panels or
prominently on main page). It was too addictive for me.

So I just blocked them in my Host file. I use Steve blacks big list on github.
I scatter multiple entries for the same site throughout the file so its a pain
to unblock even if I feel an urge.

The consequence is I end up getting most of my news on sites (from Canada,
Ireland, Japan etc) where the opinions are about things I have no great
interest in and find it easier to skip over.

Basically control your daily info flow. Just like food don't over consume. The
sites are designed to capture your attention and keep you feeling helpless to
sell ads.

------
loopz
You've recognized your anxiety, so congrats on being conscious about it. Think
of it as the first step of a solution.

Unfortunately, what's happening in the world is out of our control. We need
info and we need to share good info, but don't constipate on bad news.
Recognize that fear in the past, often was about nothing, or it's worse to
think about it. Learn to not give a F.

You have some control, how you react (not how you feel), and getting into some
work or play will relieve the stress. We need to move our bodies, sing and
dance if you can, however best you can release your energy. Build from there.

Some things we can change, other things we can't. Use this time to reconnect
with yourself, investigate stuff that interests you, let the bad news fly by
as pure informational data and realize you are in your own cockpit. A good
distraction is focusing on someone else and what they need.

Good luck! There will be bad feelings, but the worst of them is just thinking
too much. Let the feelings come if they need to, just don't indulge in fear or
paranoia, and accept that negative reactions will come up.

Slow, deep breaths into stomach. Relax.

------
moneytide1
The bad news, fearmongering, pessimism, empty market shelf pictures, etc
clogging my otherwise interesting forward thinking RSS feeds feels like a case
of the hiccups.

People just want to rally around something - you've now got access to more
prompts for conversation with complete strangers under looming conditions that
appear to threaten your species.

There is also a reverse psychology element in your biased Media Mogul
Controlled "News" telling you to stay away from other people for a few weeks
(when authority announces the end of this phase there will be a burst of
interaction and crowded events to restore social equilibrium ).

Since we all learned through standardized curriculum grade school about large
fractions of past populations dying off to disease spread - all of this is
ancient memory tellling us to be careful.

------
AnimalMuppet
As a Christian, I view this somewhat differently. I don't particularly fear my
own death, or my world falling apart, even while I recognize that those are
realistic possibilities, because I don't believe that this life is all there
is. I don't need to hold on to it as if it's all I will get.

So I view all of this with watchfulness, some concern, but not particularly
with fear. I try to take care of those around me. (I'm limiting my exposure to
others at the moment, because my daughter may have had it a week ago, but
wasn't tested, because we're in the US and nobody was being tested here a week
ago.) We stocked up on some things two or three weeks ago. I'm working from
home. I'm maybe a little bit bored, but not much more than that.

------
antoineMoPa
1\. Realize and accept that you have no control over some things. 2\. Enjoy
the pleasures of remote work.

------
smdz
If it your first time WFH, the anxiety due to that will pass with time.

News out there exists to induce some heightened emotional response. Either a
WOW factor or a FEAR factor. Apparently, news to induce the FEAR factor is
usually available. You don't believe me - then count the negative news and
positive news articles for a 15-20 days. This stands true even without the
Covid-19 fear.

When working from home, limit your TV news time. I watch business news mostly
and that too for a limited period. Do not let news chatter in the background.

Go for a 15-30 minute walk alone, it will help in reducing anxiety. And get
some sun - it does wonders.

There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a
gift. That is why it is called the "present.” - Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda.

~~~
Jaruzel
> _If it your first time WFH, the anxiety due to that will pass with time._

This is so true. Switching from being in an office (open plan or otherwise) to
being in a small room on your own with only your laptop for company can for a
lot of people be too jarring.

Not everyone is cut out for WFH, but currently most do not have a choice.
Everyone who is not used to it, will go through an initial period of anxiety
as your daily routine has been up ended.

From a work point of view, the most common initial WFH anxiety, is 'how will
my boss know I'm still working?' quickly followed by 'am I working enough?' \-
my advice here is: Don't change your work routine. If your office hours were
9am to 6pm, then stick to that, even though you are at home. Don't be tempted
to login earlier or work later. Create a division between work and home life.

Do not sit on the couch with your laptop on your lap or the coffee table -
this isn't 'WFH Fridays' where barely anyone does any work. You need a proper
working environment. If you can designate a desk in your home to be your
'office' then do that. Organise it as you would your real office desk. Try to
position things so that you have natural light.

If you find the silence too deafening, there are plenty of 'ambient' sound
channels on YouTube that emulate the hustle and bustle of coffee shops and
open plan offices, or even waves on a beach and stormy rain-forests if that's
your thing.

Use the newly gained free time that used to be lost to commuting on something
that helps your wellbeing, i.e. at 6pm, log-off and do some exercise or have a
daily bath.

If you are worried about how your work output is perceived, agree with your
boss a way to provide timely updates so that he/she is always informed. Do not
be afraid to set Slack/Teams/Skype to 'Do not disturb' if you need to - The
downside of people not being able to 'see' you is that impromptu IMs increase
and can disrupt your flow.

Try to 'get up' everyday. It's easy to just roll out of bed and sit in front
of your laptop in your pyjamas, and not shower every day. Don't do this, it
will make you depressed and disconnected. Get up, wash, get dressed (as if you
are actually going out) - keeping to your normal healthcare routine will help
keep you mentally positive.

In the UK at least, we are not currently locked in our houses, so if you can
go out for a walk - even during the work-day. You didn't chain yourself to
your desk for 8 hours whilst you were in the office, so why do that at home?

\---

I've been working from home for several years now, and although I don't follow
all of my own advice, I have navigated around most of the pitfalls. That said,
not everyone is cut-out for WFH, so your mileage may vary.

------
tastroder
Should you live in a country where that's still on the table and the weather
isn't too shabby: if you enjoy that kind of thing, taking a walk in the woods
can be pretty calming, leave your phone in the car, no risk of diseases or
people there.

Other than that, if you're stuck at home don't use every minute of your WFH
breaks to check the news, exponential growth doesn't imply that your situation
changes every minute. Make sure to take that breaks in the first place. Maybe
reach out to other people in the same situation and have a relaxed chat, just
like you would in a non-pandemic cafe setting. Try to find normalcy,
hyperfocus on bad news is seldom productive for one's mental stability.

------
jventura
I'm a university professor and since classes are suspended for now, I'm taking
the chance to fix some things in my house that were on my todo list. I've just
finished putting some cement in some of my bathroom tiles.

Regarding news, I try not to watch too much news on the TV. I also think I'm
relatively informed regarding this new virus, and as I'm not in (too much)
risk, I try now to worry too much..

------
forkexec
Stop looking at or obsessing about news except to gather details. Odds are,
you'll be perfectly fine if you prepare and act sensibly, because in reality,
all you have or need is you to save yourself.

Keep busy and use time effectively. Practice a skill, write a novel, make
something, finish some projects.

I've been through:

\- storms with 100 mph/160 kph winds blowing down 200-year-old oak trees,
concrete-anchored redwood fences flying through the air like kites and bowing-
in glass windows several inches / 10 cm nearly to the point of failure

\- Loma Prieta and a myriad of earthquakes too numerous and forgettable

\- Enron rolling blackouts

\- the Camp Fire

\- week-long and longer power outages

\- and now a pandemic

I'm probably forgetting some events. All I'm missing on my disaster bucket
list T-shirt are volcano, hypercane, locust, GRB, asteroid and tsunami. :)

The current situation is a necessary but major inconvenience is all. Things
and life will be better in 6-18 months. It will be OK. There's no point to
worrying about things that are absolutely beyond one's own control, while
addressing and preparing for things within one's control to eliminate sources
of worry.

------
kwhitefoot
I'm cautiously optimistic that most of us will get through this crisis
successfully, at least here in Scandinavia where solidarity is still a thing
(however imperfectly).

What I do worry a little about is the knock on effects; the amplification of
existing trends that reduce physical commerce in town centres, driving shops,
cafés, etc., out of business.

If we want to have places to shop other than supermarkets and online and a
reason to maintain and develop town centres someone is going to have to figure
out how to change various tax regimes to make it easier for such places to
survive.

In most towns that I visit there has already in the last forty years been a
dramatic reduction in the range of goods available and of course this just
drives even more people to shop online further reducing the turnover of the
local shops.

Of course it could be that we should just let them go out of business and find
an alternative way of living.

Other than that, as keiferski says we live in much better times, even with
this crisis, than pretty much ever before.

------
matwood
Exercise every day. Get some sleep. Work, particularly if there are some
tedious type tasks that you can plow through without thinking too much. Keep
perspective. Yes, this is absolutely a rough period, but in time it will pass.

I also play 'worst case scenario' with myself. My wife and I are relatively
young, so the odds of us being seriously impacted health-wise are very low.
But, worst case would be my wife and/or my parents die. Next level terrible,
but it's also a reminder to be talking and present with them every day. It's
not making light of it, but accepting this is a worst case from a health stand
point.

From an economic standpoint, my company could be forced to close. I could be
forced to eventually use all my savings, sell my house, etc... Would that
suck? Absolutely. Is it the end of the world? Nah, and it's infinitely better
than something happening to the people around me. I started with very little,
and would just start again.

------
sethammons
If you can't do something about a situation, don't worry. If you can, then do,
and don't worry.

Things I can do: wash hands, try not to touch my face, limit contact with the
more at risk population and teach my kids to do the same. Things I can't do?
Anything else related to covid-19. I can also limit my intake of negative
news.

------
davzie
Headspace - Andy's voice and just 10 minutes a day.

Also using screen time to block Safari on my phone and removed social media
apps.

Also using /etc/hosts to block news websites.

Only news I get now is through the radio when I'm chilling out listening to
Chris Country. That's more manageable than a wall of bad news and horror
stories.

------
JJarrard
Deleted BBC News, Facebook, and Reddit (unfortunately), just skimming HN for
cool tech content every now and again.

I'm feeling a lot better. Leaving my apartment, looking at the blue sky and
the bustling people on their way to work. Life feels much better, I'm also not
checking my phone as often.

------
taylodl
Keep a routine. One of the biggest challenges of working from home is
maintaining a routine. Include things like tea breaks in your routine. Make
sure you're going to bed at the same time, showering at the same time, etc.
Most important: schedule when you're going to tune into the news. You don't
need to keep hearing the same news over and over and over again all day long.
That'll drive you nuts.

Outside of work find something to occupy your mind so you're not just
fretting. My thing is guitar. I like having something that's not computer-
related I can do. Maybe yours _is_ computer-related like learning a new
language or framework. Pick something you enjoy doing and takes a little bit
of concentration so you can take your mind off of things.

------
drakonka
I am growing a vegetable garden in my apartment and last weekend I stocked up
on bleach and disinfected my entire apartment. These two are mostly just to
make me feel better and manufacture any sort of semblance of control.

In more useful actions, I stocked up on some food (both canned and frozen) to
prepare for self quarantine and/or self isolation. I pulled out my moped and
de-rusted the chain yesterday after seeing multiple sick people on public
transport, ignoring the advice to stay indoors for anyone who shows symptoms.
Now working from home but still quite hard to focus with all of the news. I
also have some anxiety, but it sort of comes and goes and just cleaning
obsessively for a little while seems to settle it :D

------
jerome-jh
I am trying to remain rational, maybe over-rational. My age group has a low
risk, my children almost no risks. Mostly elderly people die, which is sad,
but they have lived. There are 4000 cases in my country which is still a
pretty low chance of encountering one ... especially since we are almost
quarantined. If we follow South Korea methods, we should see the same effects
in 2 to 3 weeks.

Second thing is that it has nothing to see with the crises of the XX century,
and probably much less serious than what is going to happen towards and after
2050 (huge number of people fleeing their unlivable lands).

------
sojournerc
When I'm anxious or feeling down, I make a mental "gratitude inventory" in my
mind for as long as I can, remembering all my blessings past and present. Does
wonders for perspective.

------
otobrglez
I'll very likely have to fire 14 world-class engineers, OPS, PMs and
designers. From the team that I've spent building 4 years. We'll very likely
have to kill the product that I've spent all my work and free time working on.

This is gonna be the first time I'll actually have to say "thanks" to people
that I consider to be my friends. At the beginning of very likely the worst
crisis that the world has seen.

Ruby, Scala, OPS, Machine learning, AI, Angular, fully-remote and
distributed...

FML.

------
nicbou
I help.

I run a website that helps people figure out life in Berlin in Germany. It
covers important topics in plain language.

These days I maintain an overview of the Coronavirus situation in Berlin, and
spread correct information in various communities. The government is doing a
poor job at propagating information, and most sources are only in German.

Save a few surprisingly hostile people, the response has been very positive.
It feels good to be helpful, even if it's only for a few hundred people.

~~~
froh
Great positive support!

Nitpick: The official information is clear, simple and plenty, albeit indeed
primarily in German language: [https://www.infektionsschutz.de/coronavirus-
sars-cov-2.html](https://www.infektionsschutz.de/coronavirus-sars-cov-2.html)

This is advertised in social media anywhere.

Your site (link?) presumably links to the English documents there as they are
updated regularly?

~~~
nicbou
I don't spend much time covering the virus itself. My main concern is to keep
people updated about closures, financial support and other things that
directly affect them.

------
nteunckens
\- Keep the news-crawling to an absolute minimum and be critical of which
channels you choose : fake news, headlines with "numbers" without proper
context ... leave all those things behind and try to stick to less "clickbait"
news.

\- If you can manage it, try to stick to 'business as usual' as much as
possible : a lot of Tech-workers càn work remote and with limited face-to-face
contact. That doesn't mean you deliberately have to avoid contact, yet I like
to limit even online conversations as any discussion these days will divert
into a talk about the current Crisis.

\- Don't expect to be 'hugely' productive, but it might be a good time to
engage in the work you left hanging in recent times. (For me, that's
Documentation and such, Ugh!) It will be gratifying to see some of those
actions being handled ...

\- Keep up with past or new Hobbies / Opportunities : I am not in complete
Lockdown here (yet), so I go for a run (alone) in the woods and plains at
noon. And I've made a list of stuff that I want to do in the evening : Read
some Books, Learn new Programming languages, etc.

\- Don't forget about other people : I can get a bit self-centered once I have
found a good personal rythm in handling this situation. But I need to remind
myself to check in with relatives and friends (through Social Media and other
Technology options ofcourse).

\- Keep some inspiring Quotes or some calming "mantras" nearby (like on Post-
It notes, Screensaver on your Phone, whatever, ...). I tend to find some
solace and inspiration in those. My selection of Quotes revolve around ways to
keep calm in times of adversity but they might be too pessimistic in these
trying times, so I refrain from giving examples and will let you decide the
Search Terms for yourself ...

\- As I have a family here at home (2 Adults, 2 Kids), it's actually quite
easy to get into a "Family-time, long unexpected Vacation" vibe where we : use
online platforms to educate the kids (somewhat), do chores in and around the
house, spring-cleaning, go on walks for as long as it is allowed, have a nice
drink at home once and again, ... We have things like movie-nights with the
Kids and they love it.

\- Keep a diary on your Experience and write in the Evening as you retrospect
your day. Any moments you can recall where you were extremely Anxious? Write
it down, and write on how you will cope with it better the next day. Tommorrow
is a new day to try to do a better job of it.

Good luck, try to focus on the good, ignore as much of the bad or leave them
to be properly examined in your journal.

------
newprint
Thankfully, just few weeks ago, I managed to score a nice set of dumbbells off
the craigslist, plus I have set of plates and a bar, other dumbbells, ab wheel
+ equipment for training arms for rock climbing, that allows me to exercise
from my place. For the first time ever, me and my younger brother had a
workout session over the Facebook video call.

In last few days, all of the sudden, my girlfriend decided to get in shape, so
I'm helping her out.

------
dougmwne
For me, maybe a bit paradoxically, recognizing the seriousness of the
situation helps. This is a big event that has already forced change in my
life.

We had to cancel a vacation, could not see our families, cannot go home, took
a big financial hit, had to cut many of our hobbies and will not get to see a
good friend get married. It's ok if I feel worried, stressed, angry or sad
about it. But hope springs eternal and this too shall pass.

------
tapper
I have bin spending time with my 5 kids. We have bin in the yard planting
veggys and doing some cooking. It's good but hard to keep your mind of things.

------
WnZ39p0Dgydaz1
As a socially reclusive nerd I have been training for this my whole life.
Finally a chance to show off my skills. You're not getting me, COVID-19!

~~~
downerending
Saw a meme today: "TIL that my lifestyle is called _quarantine_ "

------
Jugurtha
We've been working from home for a couple of weeks now [Algiers, Algeria].
We're building product, supporting our users - who are students preparing
their masters in ML subjects on our ML platform -, answering questions, fixing
bugs, and adding tests.

We've most of our machines to work for Folding@Home[0].

[0]: [https://foldingathome.org/](https://foldingathome.org/)

------
xfitm3
I don't watch or trust the news in any way shape or form. Its absolute fear
mongering. I've been news free for years and I'm much happier.

------
blisterpeanuts
Exercise and fresh air, listening to good music, avoid excessive drinking.
Watch cool science fiction movies while eating ice cream, read good books.
Bake cookies, learn how to cook interesting dishes, call your parents and
other distant loved ones. Read Hacker News which is pleasantly free of the
hysteria infecting many other news feeds. Don't worry; we'll get through this.

------
meheleventyone
On the anxiety front I've found some mindfulness meditation helpful. Even if
it's only giving myself some time to get really relaxed.

I start using Calm about a month ago after having a odd (in that I can't see a
directly attributable cause) acute spike in anxiety. Obviously right now its
fairly normal to feel anxiety but its good to try to minimize it's affects on
you.

------
lcall
My honest answer: We can have peace by learning God's will for ourselves,
doing it, and trusting Him. Some think this is silly, but I have learned for
myself, so I no longer have to ask others to determine my views on this. You
can too. He has promised, if we do our part, peace in this world and eternal
life in the world to come. More at my site (no sales or javascript),
[http://lukecall.net/](http://lukecall.net/) , the main link for this part is
just over 1/2-way down, "How I learned...". All the best to you.

(Edit: hopefully the site is skimmable. I tried to write that way, so each
sentence is like part of a paragraph, but also often a link to more info...)

(Edit: also, things happening now were predicted long ago, for these last
days, so we don't need to be surprised, but we can be OK. In the context of
climate change and the world in commotion, I wrote my thoughts on that at the
page:
[http://lukecall.net/e-9223372036854581820.html](http://lukecall.net/e-9223372036854581820.html)
.)

Edit/ps: I've been through plenty: a divorce (and wonderful remarriage), some
significant mistakes (aka learning experiences), health problems, economic
uncertainty, but with help from family, church etc), and what I wrote at the
site is from personal experience, in detail, and one can personally jump
around to the most interesting stuff I hope, easily. Some of the content I
think applies even if one doesn't follow religion, like about direction in
life.

~~~
d1str0
I only believe in the one true Morty

------
hyperpallium
General fears are hard to handle. Anxiety is an urgent energy, but without an
actionable object. Do something specific and definite, that is actionable, to
direct that energy, and regain a sense of agency.

I've been buying things that will be helpful during a lockdown (that I've been
putting off from well before WWC: new phone etc), while the risk is still low.

------
BigBalli
Personally, I almost quit Twitter. Twitter used to be my online hang-out of
preference but now it seems like no one is talking about anything else. The
only thing I can do is get away from it before it gets me too depressed/angry.

------
sub7
I've been catching up with a ton of friends who I should really have been
chatting with more often all along

------
anotheryou
A few random ideas, see if any suite you:

\- Regarding WFH: maybe you can make a "hangout" video conference to emulate
the office a bit?

\- do video walls with friends

\- try to stay rational (you can't do more than self-isolating, nothing more
you can do)

\- if you can concentrate on it and have the energy: learn something

------
sirspacey
Get out of your head and into your body. Fear overrides our sympathetic
nervous system. system, I’ve found these exercises reliably reset it:

[https://youtu.be/vZUnfPLHpg0](https://youtu.be/vZUnfPLHpg0)

I set a timer and go for 3 minutes.

------
JDiculous
Shorting the market. If the world's going down the drain, might as well profit
from it.

------
lordnacho
Call your friends and family and make sure they're ok. Talking to others helps
you both be less anxious.

Also, see yourself as an observer of the times, not so much an actor. Don't
worry about powerlessness, just be glad you can see how things are going.

------
leandot
I'm avoiding most of the clickbait news sources, building more things with my
hands (furniture from pallets for the terrace) and spending more time with my
family. And I read a lot of fantasy books! That helps.

------
xtracto
Regarding WFH I suggest you establish a routine and a calendar. Schedule your
wake up time, breakfast time, tv time, working time, gaming time, goofing time
etc.

It will help you focus and get you thinking in the task you have at hand.

------
dt3ft
I tend to work much more on my side-projects than before the crisis hit.
Currently this is 20-things.com, and this helps me keep my focus off bad news.
It can't get much worse than this, right? Right?

------
listsfrin
I don't think HN is the best place to ask for the moment. Speaking bad about
the corona virus panic and the people creating it will get you many downvotes.

During the current crisis HN felt like a text-only Facebook.

------
screye
I mean, the worst case outcome is my stock's value goes down by about $10k
more. ( I don't count 401k, since short term changes to that are meaningless)

That is largely within the delta of what I chalk up to luck of the draw, when
I got my job anyways. So, it is well within expected variance.

I am young, so health is no big deal. I am following protocol, but not worried
for myself. Honestly, not that much has changed. People are panicking due to
mass hysteria. But, this isn't that bad.

Maybe I used to it. My country has had just as massive dengue, swine flu and
bird flu epidemics over the last decade. People died in huge numbers just the
same. Just that, the ones at risk were mostly really poor people in a 3rd
world country, so no one cared enough to force such a response.

My friend jokes that the only reason this pandemic is so serious, is because
it's the only one that seriously affects white boomers. I'm not sure if he is
entirely wrong.

------
Spooky23
Accept that you can only control what you can control.

Focus on your family and your work. Try to tune out the noise. Take solace in
that we’re all in this together.

------
pjmlp
I try to search for news myself, otherwise it will just feel that we are
living the reality of one of those doomsday movies.

Which might be true, but going crazy won't fix it.

------
albertTJames
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51873799](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51873799)

------
julienreszka
I have no need to cope, I just see things as they are. I have no wishful
thinking, no unfulfilled expectation. I just have moral strength.

------
chewz
Focus on surving. Meditate. Make a list of books to read. Think of
opportunities ahead (and there will be plenty one way or the other).

------
theklub
Read up on old much harsher times and you'll realize this isn't so bad after
all...Reading click bait all day won't help.

------
birdyrooster
Me and my colleagues have just kept working full steam ahead (from home of
course) without much to say about Coronavirus whatsoever.

------
irscott
Keep a routine. Get up, exercise, work, read, etc. Stay busy and try not to
let your imagination get the best of you.

------
downerending
Since no one else is saying it: Drinking more.

Yeah, not really good, but this might not be the week to stop sniffing glue...

------
pezo1919
I accepted all the worst scenarios. Cried multiple times.

Now I can focus on prepping and survival.

To me doing nothing makes me much more nervous than catching up with latest
news and trying to save myself and my family.

This is the time to work hard for everyone, it's not the time to go watching
netflix and wait for "others" to do the hard work.

You can also try to help with the research projects which are trying to find a
drug.

------
adityapurwa
Here’s my personal take:

1\. I don’t trust news by default, when I saw something that might affects me,
just then I started digging the facts across multiple sources.

2\. I don’t share news, even if that could help others, unless I am 100% sure
its a factual news.

3\. Focus on what I can control, e.g government trying to hide something? Its
not like I have the power to uncover the facts and I am not sure either if
they’re trying to hide something.

4\. Think positively, judge what is in front of you, stay safe by default.
Government saying no one is infected with corona yet? Think positively and
believe them, and stay safe by self social distancing. Unless you have the
knowledge and resources to do research, its gonna waste a lot of your time
while you can use it to prepare for your safety and those around you.

5\. As for WFH, changes are always hard. Make sure to keep communicating and
clarifying things that aren’t clear. Keep notes of anything important. Get
enough sunlight, exercise, stay clean, drink enough water.

6\. Whatever happens, happens. Remove all negative thoughts, for every
hardship, there’s ease and comfort at the end ~ like how its always been
(think about a hard problem from the past, and how it can be solved and there
we are, still here and strong and learned something).

Best wishes! TLDR; Ignore news by default, stay positive!

------
op00to
I worried a lot. Did the Amazon guy cough on my deliver? Why is my neighbor’s
kid knocking on my door?

To solve this, I smoked a lot of weed. I’m out of weed now. Guess I should try
to get some work done.

~~~
jamil7
Word of unsolicited advice from someone who smoked weed daily for a number of
years. If you already have some anxiety, prolonged consumption will worsen it.

~~~
op00to
Please keep your unsolicited advice to yourself, because you literally have no
clue what my journey is, or what health issues I have.

Here's my word of unsocilited advice. EVERY PERSON'S BODY IS DIFFERENT. When
dealing with mental health medication, it's trial and error. What seems to
work for one person doesn't work for another. I am under the care of a
physician, and the cannabis I consume is prescribed by that doctor, grown in a
fully licensed facility, lab tested, and used as part of an overall treatment
regimen that got me off of addicted benzos and productive at levels I never
saw before.

Keep your advice to yourself.

~~~
mythrwy
Fortunately you have medication on hand to deal with the stress of unsolicited
advice!

------
jinushaun
Daycare closed. Nuff said.

------
bjourne
Corona is actually GOOD NEWS. I'm not kidding. What the world needs is a
severe recession that stops flying, overconsumption, and overworking. The
longer the recession lasts the better. It's the only thing that can
effectively slow global warming. Climate change is a global threat,
coronavirus could be a blessing in disguise.

~~~
gambiting
If you were an alien on a spaceship watching us from orbit - sure. But once
things start affecting you it just becomes grim reality. Personally I'm
stressed as balls because my mum runs a few retail shops and if the situation
doesn't improve rapidly she will literally face bankrupcy. It's hard for me to
look at it and say "hey, it's great because it stops overconsumption!". And
that's not even considering that she or anyone else I know might get ill and I
won't be able to go home because all flights to my home country have been
cancelled and the borders closed so even if I had to I have extremely limited
options for getting home.

Like, I agree with you in principle - but as a human being, I think your
opinion in extremely priviledged and something you can only say sitting behind
a computer screen shielded from real life.

~~~
bjourne
Actually I think you are the one with a privileged word view. We know that in
a decade or so climate change will come to affect tens of millions of people
who will become refugees. Crop yields will fail and lots of diseases much
worse than corona will spread.

Tough luck that you can't get fly home but that doesn't affect my main point.
International air travel is _unsustainable_ and is KILLING OUR PLANET!

We as a species have two choices; either we let our global economy collapse or
we let our global ecosystem collapse. I know what my choice is.

~~~
rl3
Or we just solve it with any number of engineering fixes, minus the abject
human misery a global recession involves.

