24/05/2020
TURN YOUR ANXIETY INTO JOY
Quarantine Reflection
by: Ron Nie
For almost 10 weeks of quarantine period is not easy. Life has changed rapidly. I missed the “normal days” that I used to do. Things have changed. I let go of my plans for this year and hold up at home. Time has changed. What is left with me is ANXIETY.
At this challenging time, I am not only fighting for the virus to stop, I am also fighting silently for emotional and psychological battle. The battle between anxiety and inner peace. The battle between depression and calmness. The battle between despair and hope. The battle between reality and spirituality. In other words, it is the battle between the “I” and “ME”.
In the first place, I thought that quarantine is the best time to rest. A time to be with myself. A time to free from studies and works while avoiding myself to be inflicted of the virus. But as I go along day by day with my routines, it becomes boring and I come to the point of losing the meaning why I need to sacrifice at this moment of crisis. I was blinded with my anxieties and fears that choked me to be paralyzed every day.
Until one day, I just found myself in bended knee before the crucified Christ, simply gazing, simply staring at Him for an hour. For me, it was an encounter of a two-year old child with His Father. “I just look at Him and He looks at me.” I started to tell my stories with the Lord. A story of pains that I am experiencing right now. At the same time, sharing the story of hope that I wanted to be. At that moment, it changes everything.
For those who are reading this, our greatest enemy is not so much the virus outside, but the virus of anxiety creeping into the self. Be watchful not to be a victim. Start winning the battle for you.If you conquer and win the battle for yourself against anxiety, be grateful for the Lord has changed you and that’s the only time to have an inner peace with yourself. Never lose hope for God is reassuring us everyday “BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD” (Ps:46:10).
