Monday, 30 March | 8 a.m.

Hello, good morning to you and Hello There!

A new week begins and we would like to contribute with good news to keep us all relaxed and get through this special time.

For our growing English speaking community: Welcome to this edition of anxietyfree.news! We’re very proud of the fact that you spotted us and the anglo media has picked up on us. Our recommendation (if you haven’t done it yet): Copy the news and put them through the google translator! Some of the links of our articles below are in English.

One more note: We have set up an RSS feed for this page. That means you can subscribe to angstfrei.news now. Give it a try! We’re still improving the site and are happy to receive ideas, comments and also wishes in the feedback form.

So, what’s new – what’s new?

The good news of the day

WHO starts full-scale trial
All over the world, people are working at full speed on new medicines, cures and vaccinations against the coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has started a large-scale trial with the four most promising coronavirus treatments, as reported by the reputable scientific magazine “Science”. However, there is also a lot of improvisation in the world’s corona hotspots. For example, CNN TV reported on New York that blood transfusions were able to help sick people in a healthier way.
→ Science

Update: Important developments since yesterday evening

Wear a mask
Many people do not know if they are infected by the virus. That is why a Chinese scientist recommends the consistent use of a face shield in public. “It’s not to protect yourself. It’s to protect people against the droplets coming out of your respiratory tract, especially if you are infected and don’t know it.”
→ Science

Rwanda wants to be an African role model
Coronavirus infections are now also on the rise in Africa. This is reported by the taz. The virus is mainly introduced by travellers. Little Rwanda has distinguished itself with quick countermeasures, such as rapid tests and special buses for the working population.
→ taz

Sweden’s special way
The sparsely populated Sweden is unswervingly holding on to its special path. Schools and daycare centres remain open, as do many restaurants. As in the rest of Europe, the aim is to flatten the infection curve, less with pressure from above, but with self-responsibility from below. Head of government Löfven: “We all have to assume our responsibility as individuals. We cannot regulate and forbid everything by law.”
→ Focus

How severe a restriction on civil liberties?
The world vacillates between maximum freedom, as in Sweden, or total isolation and military rule. For example, in the severely affected Ecuador in the capital Quito the military has marched. How long do democracies hold out?
→ Rainer Hank

Greenland bans alcohol
If the whole family stays at home, conflicts can quickly arise. They can quickly turn into domestic violence through alcohol consumption. Greenland has therefore banned the sale of alcohol.
→ German Radio

co-creative politics
Now the citizens are especially in demand. Politics and business have no patent remedies for the crisis and for shaping the future. Many new impulses come from below. The systemic advisor Ruth Sander (Politics in Space) and Jascha Rohr (Institute of Participatory Design) call for this.
→ Politics in Space

Corona in numbers
In Germany 52,547 people have been tested as infected (as of 29.3.2020, 00:00 hrs RKI), which is 3,965 more than the day before.

Why these numbers? We quote here the official figures of the RKI, these are published once a day – always at midnight – and made available online at 10 a.m. For our website, this means that you can always call up current figures in the evening. And why are there no more of them here? It’s important to follow the currently recommended behaviour, we all know that. Figures on new cases do not help us in this respect. Pay attention to each other and keep your distance.

Health stickers: 150,889 people worldwide have recovered, 9,211 of them in Germany (as of 0:12). That is 1674 more people worldwide than last night.

Tips of the day

Dancing through corona times
This is the hour for Youtuber. Lots of videos on how to stay fit, for example by dancing in the corridor or in the kitchen. With Tango (with two broomsticks or Zumba) – to join in and follow!
→ YouTube

Handling children
Dealing with the little ones is a special challenge for families. Teaching the children at home – home schooling – is flourishing. And what else fathers and mothers can do with them to keep their offspring happy.
→ Superillu

People help people
Hooray for charity: “Motherhood begins at home”, say the Anglo-Saxons. Many celebrities have started campaigns on how to help other people in the corona crisis, including fundraising campaigns.
→ Good Housekeeping

Free reading of magazines
The German publisher Gruner+Jahr follows the example of publishing houses in the USA. It gives away all digital issues of its magazine. That’s 40 copies. The offer runs until April 30.
→ Gruner+Jahr

Snapchat provides corona anxiety
If you search for advice on Snapchat under the keyword “Anxiety, Depression, Stress”, you will automatically receive a list of information and experts on the subject under “Here for You”, checked and recommended by the World Health Organization WHO.
→ The Star

Not in your pajamas to the home office!
These days, millions upon millions of people work from the home office at home. Here are a few tips on how to behave:

  • Showered and neatly dressed, sit at your computer, observe breaks *
  • Finding an empty corner at home and turning it into an office/desk
  • Agree rules of living together with the family
  • Regular meetings and coordination with colleagues
  • Important: Discuss with family and colleagues also emotional waves from these changes.

→ Capital

From person to person

Anxiety and depression – a chance!

by Wolfgang Chr. Goede.

What otherwise is gladly swept under the carpet and is a taboo. These days we read a lot about the positive effects of fears. For example, the daily newspaper “Die Welt” asked how mobility pioneer Elon Musk uses his fears to be successful and happy. Indeed, the positive channelling of fears and depression is a huge topic, also in research. For example, there is the thesis that it is only through our fears that we have climbed to the present level of civilization and that fears in crises such as these evolutionary accelerators and catalysts. That’s exciting, I think. At this point I would like to refer to the British writer Matt Haig. In his book “Pretty good reasons to stay alive”, he dealt very honestly with his fears. I have discussed his book in detail in the summer edition of the German fear magazine daz (2/2020), which will be published in April, and may quote from the article at this point:

Haig found much help and encouragement in reading, especially about depressive figures in world history. The Hall of Fame of depressives is huge and ranges from the first man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Isaac Newton, to Robbie Williams and Tennessee Williams. Presidents, brilliant scientists, artists – no one is safe from the long arm of fear and depression and the often fatal consequences, as with Hemingway.

But many of them manage to escape the mental abysses and a desperate act, and to draw the energy for great achievements from the inner turbulences. This sublimation power is an important reading fruit from this book. For example, the statesmen Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in the USA, and Winston Churchill, who led England into the war against Nazi Germany against greatest domestic resistance, defeated it and with it the spectre of fascism. His depressions as well as the person of Hitler were “black dogs” for the prime minister. In this redirection and refinement Haig also found his destiny, whom “the dark consciousness” of his mortality caused him to “enjoy life all the more resolutely”.

→ Matt Haig: Pretty good reasons to stay alive. dtv, Munich, 6th edition 2019

this and that

A good time to write stories, but how does it work?
Many people have made up their minds to write something once, but never find the time to do so. Adult education centres offer courses, and there are free tips on the net:
→ YouTube

Nuances of language – the international perspective helps
The Pope’s much acclaimed Corona speech was titled in Germany “We are all in the same boat”. This is very general and sweeping. Spanish-speaking media translated it much more accurately as: “Rowing together”. Exactly, that’s what matters and that’s the freestyle.
→ Domradio

And if she doesn’t…
Who does not remember RAPUNZEL: most beautiful child under the sun? The evil witch locked him up in the inaccessible tower room. After years of QUARANTINE there, a king’s son joined her. The two fell in love with each other – and if they didn’t … Social distance, seclusion, isolation can also make your life take an unforeseen positive turn!
→ Grimm’s Fairy Tale

Wolfgang and Markus say goodbye to the angstfrei.news team and wish you a good start into the week!

(And: stop googling – we do that for you.)

Sources
Federal Ministry of Health](https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/coronavirus.html) Corona in figures (RKI)| Health ticker