A Quest for Courage and Health in an Era of Illness ~ February 2021, by ‘Callie’
The recent coronavirus events have affected us all. Some have encountered illness. Others had long been living with sickness or disease. And still others have 
found this season a cause for doubling down on health pursuits.
Despite our varied experiences, we’ve all had one common symptom to face this past year: fear.
The unfolding of the pandemic caught me in the middle of my own preexisting medical case, where multi-level rehabilitation temporarily disqualified me from nearly all interventions— mask wearing, nasal swab testing, forehead laser scans, or injections of any kind.
As a result, I’ve been harassed, detained, suspected of conspiracy, and accused of hating humanity, most commonly due to having been unable to attach a facial covering. I found myself having to literally ‘face’ far deeper life lessons than I’d imagined when I set out on the journey to heal.
Experiences these past 11 months have at times posed greater concern than even the legitimate dangers I encountered during former international aide work in areas experiencing war. And in many ways contagion quickly became far less daunting than confronting the dread, confusion, and sense of futility that’s threatened to infect many of us this past year.
“Callie, it is neither yourself nor others around you, but rather fear, that is the real threat. And you must learn to step with courage or you may never heal,” said the physician and case law advisor.
My counselors continued, “The guidelines and mandates in response to covid are not formal law. They are principles and suggestions, which, aside from their intent, have yet to be fully vetted for the documented health risks they can pose.” I listened, trying to understand as they went on.
“There’s provision within these suggested policies, that anyone who cannot participate without adverse effects may refrain, and may default to the established public health laws. If we followed our Public Health Law Bench Books, we could likely see this pandemic end,” they concluded.
“Law?” “Bench Book??” I thought bewildered. “I’m just trying to heal and get back to my life!” Besides being a patient, I’m also a small business entrepreneur and student in the health field, witnessing much of these efforts become dismantled through the events of the past year, as is the case for so many.
There is no training or study program that could prepare us to walk through such experiences, or to answer the myriads of accompanying questions and concerns. What are our established laws? Have we done our due diligence to investigate all sides of this pandemic? Are there alternative proposals for ways to mitigate risk?
As these considerations were laid before me, I began to recognize I had a lot to learn— not only about how to continue in my own medical case, but also how my family and I would continue on with the most basic activities of life.
It was at this time that I met a health practitioner named Donna, who is guild-certified in a therapeutic method called Feldenkrais. As I got to know Donna, I observed a professional competency to continue her practice despite the pandemic, led by a sense of vigilance in how she cares for herself and her clients. This made me comfortable to ask if she’d be willing to work with my unique situation.
Donna drew on knowledge and training to determine how to continue safely without compromising an environment that would remain fully therapeutic—the foundation upon which her practice rests. As a result, I was able to continue my progress in healing from injury and illness without added stresses.
And while sessions covered topics such as movement, structural reorientation, and nervous system rewiring, the larger lesson taking shape each week was the realization that the environment around us has a staggering impact on the human immune system and overall well-being.
Human health is not merely about joints, systems, and tissue. It’s about the inescapable mind- body connection so intrinsic to our design. It’s about the whole person— how we think and feel— alongside continual learning and relearning of the boundaries within our innate biopsychosocial design. This extends even to our mutual acknowledgment of we the people—our sense of trust, honor, stability, competency, contribution, ability to overcome adversity, and empathetic human connection.
It seems that these principles are not only proven health and immune boosters, they are also the basis for many of our founded laws. The laws themselves are not the grantor of such principles, but merely a reflection upholding these higher inherent truths.
“It is not only disease which can threaten our well-being,” my advisors pointed out. “How we deal with fear surrounding any threat can have a direct and potent impact on our health.”
Dread of media mayhem, of case numbers, of illness and death, of isolation from society, or even of what is coming next in our world— these experiences are hard-wired to impact our bodies in any number of ways, including raised blood pressure, taxed adrenaline, overdosed cortisol, altered brain chemistry, autoimmune response, braced physiology, and much more.
Fear and oppression from any source can be directly counterproductive to our immune systems. It can degrade our metabolic and cardiovascular health, dampen our intuition, distort our reasoning and logic, burden our emotional system, and even initiate symptoms of disease.
“And these added stresses, conscious or unconscious, further influence how we think and feel, what we perceive as our reality, and our ability to problem-solve the trials which face us.”
While I have such a long way to go to develop the amount of courage needed to press ahead, I recognize that had the year’s events unfolded at a time in my life absent of such hurdles, I may never have encountered these lessons nor been able to connect with so many others grappling with similar things.
From doctors to officers, government workers, professors, students, nurses and practitioners, journalists, researchers, clients, teachers, colleagues, and individuals of all ages— there is indeed no shortage of perplexing perspectives and expressed concerns. (Some of the common inquiries that have crossed my path can be found compiled here)
While I lack many answers myself, there is one thing I have become certain of: I, Callie, must find a way to press ahead, to take heart, and to heal. And to never lose hope— for myself and for we the people—that a future exists beyond the threat of perpetual illness, whether that threat is physical in nature or that which comes from long-term exposure to a contagion such as fear.
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May we find courage in these daunting times. May the health of ourselves and our communities be supported— body and mind. May we be strengthened to step through each of our own unique challenges in this season. May we recuperate from induced fear of ourselves or of our neighbors, covered or bare-faced. May all those who have experienced hardship and loss through these times be comforted and restored. And may we walk thoughtfully ahead, never losing touch with life’s foundational truths which no threat can ever diminish.