Faith column: As Idahoans react to coronavirus crisis, we also must think long-term

It didn’t take long for stores to begin selling out of sanitizing wipes (and toilet paper, for some reason). Once the specter of “self-quarantine” and “social distancing” started haunting our collective imagination, people rushed to stores to stockpile supplies. Uncertainty is a powerful motivator. What if I need these things or want them, but there aren’t any left? Then add in even more uncertainty: How long might this last, and how far will we need to go in practicing social distancing?

In the waves of all this uncertainty, we react. We make gut decisions based on the evidence available at the time, and strong emotions drive our behavior. A psychologist once described this to me as “fast track” thinking. Our brains want us to react quickly to certain things as a survival mechanism. Sometimes we have little information and need to make an immediate decision. Being able to react quickly is a useful thing!

Useful, that is, until it isn’t useful anymore. Sometimes our brains and emotions focus on the wrong information, or on information that is factually wrong but we wish were right, and our reactions are not going to be helpful. We need to do “slow track” thinking, take in more information and plan out a more nuanced response. We can analyze more information, consider our options and engage in “if / then” kinds of planning: IF this thing happens, THEN we will do this in response. It keeps us in the driver’s seat. We get to choose our response, and in the face of ever-changing circumstances, we have a better idea of what to do.

Stockpiling toilet paper might give us a feeling of control and make us less fearful in the face of uncertainty, but it’s not helpful to us or are neighbors, once we think about it.

If we are stuck in a loop of reacting and “fast track” thinking, we actually experience less control. We’ll get a piece of information, feel fear or anger, and react. Then another piece of information will arrive: Do we react to it, too? We feel like we have to react to everything. We second-guess ourselves. We are overwhelmed.

Consider what “slow track” thinking can do in this situation. By considering the bigger picture, we can fit new information in without having to completely change our plan each time. We can adjust. In the midst of things we cannot control, we can choose how we respond.

How does this relate to the life of faith?

We are faced with spiritual challenges in many different times in our lives. We will have to react to certain things when they occur: the heartbreak of learning someone we love has died, or the spiritual frustration with the world’s injustices, or the fear of our own mortality. We have no idea when these things will come, but they will, and we will react.

A gift we can give ourselves is to contemplate these difficult things now. What will we do if someone dear to us dies? We hesitate to think of them dying, but ignoring the possibility is not going to keep it from happening. How would we take care of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls in our grief? Or think of the injustices of the world: Instead of reacting to them when we find out about them, how will we make the world a better place for everyone right now? And our own mortality, what do we think it will be like? Are we afraid?

When a tragedy or a crisis happens, we will react as our emotions direct, but we will also respond with what our minds, souls and hearts worked out prayerfully beforehand. We’ve been given “fast track” and “slow track” thinking to help us in life; let’s use them both.

And don’t hoard the toilet paper, please.

This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 6:00 AM.