Category Archives: #BrownleeGlobal

COVID-19 Self-Care Coach

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During times of stress, it’s especially important to set time aside for self-care.

The world is facing an unprecedented medical crisis. During these stressful times, you may become so overwhelmed with work, daily life or caring for your family that you forget to take care of yourself. Remember, you must take care of yourself first so you can continue to care for others. Thus, it’s important to get into a good self-care routine to prevent stress and to enhance your emotional well-being and mental health.

There are many stressors in life such as not knowing what might happen next to your family members, friends or your community during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Those are the key ingredients to creating PTSD: having stressors where it’s uncertain, uncontrolled, and unpredictable,” says Karestan Koenen, a psychologist at Harvard University’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Body, mind and spirit

Your mind and body are connected. You deserve care that supports your total health — mind, body, and spirit. If you struggle with depression, anxiety, addiction, or other mental or emotional issues that interfere with your daily life, there is help.

The National Center for PTSD created an app called Covid Coach, a tool designed to help people manage stress, reduce anxiety, for meditation and improved sleep. And, it provides information about coping strategies. It offers breathing exercises and other guidance for tackling loneliness and irritability. It lets users track their anxiety and moods. It’s loaded with resources for getting help with problems like substance abuse or domestic violence. It’s available for free in the Apple and Android app stores.

Set a Personal Goal

One effective tool of the COVID Coach relates to setting a personal goal. Setting a personal goal can be helpful to ensure you’re making time for yourself. For example, you might set a goal to connect with a friend this week by phone or video, make yourself a favorite meal, or do whatever it is that you enjoy that you can do for yourself.

Stay home during the holiday season

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, many public health officials stress why not traveling and not gathering with family and friends is the safest choice for the holidays.

Throughout this challenging time, your health and safety should remain your top priority. Protect yourself and your loved ones with the help of this COVID Coach.

It’s hard to know where you’re going if you don’t know where you are.

References:

  1. https://www.wired.com/story/this-mental-health-app-is-tailor-made-for-your-pandemic-woes/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=wired&utm_social-type=earned
  2. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52eb2689e4b09fc88a61dbda/t/5fd8fa0c3843d52beda31b68/1608055314773/30DaysofSelfCarewithCOVIDCoach.pdf

Receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine

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As fatiguing as 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have been, science has stepped up this year to provide humankind with a pair of truly hopeful gifts: the first two FDA approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech, enabling distribution to begin to certain high-risk groups just three days later.

More recently, the FDA granted an EUA to a COVID-19 vaccine from the biotechnology company Moderna, Cambridge, MA. This messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, which is part of a new approach to vaccination, was co-developed by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The EUA of the Moderna vaccine is based on data showing the vaccine is safe and 94.5 percent effective at protecting people from infection with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Messenger-RNA vaccines are safe

The two vaccines currently authorized for EUA in the United States work in a unique way. Their centerpiece is a small, non-infectious snippet of mRNA. Our cells constantly produce thousands of mRNAs, which provide the instructions needed to make proteins. When someone receives an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, it tells the person’s own cells to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, according to information provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The person’s immune system then recognizes the viral spike protein as foreign and produces antibodies to eliminate it.

This vaccine-spurred encounter trains the human immune system to remember the spike protein. So, if an actual SARS-CoV-2 virus tries to infect a vaccinated person weeks or months later, his or her immune system will be ready to fend it off. To produce the most vigorous and durable immunity against the virus, people will need to get two shots of mRNA vaccine, which are spaced several weeks to a month apart, depending on the vaccine.

Some misinformed individuals (or trolls) have raised concerns on social media that mRNA vaccines might alter the DNA genome of someone being vaccinated. But that’s not possible, since this mRNA doesn’t enter the nucleus of the cell where DNA is located. Instead, the vaccine mRNAs stay in the outer part of the cell (the cytoplasm).

NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci received Moderna’s COVID19 vaccine, co-developed with NIH. It’s imperative that you roll up your sleeve and accept the potentially life-saving gift of a COVID-19 vaccine. Accepting this gift is your best chance to put this pandemic behind you and your family, as we look forward to a better new year.

Vaccines are the best hope for the nation to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, public surveys indicate that some people are uneasy about accepting this disease-preventing vaccine. Some have even indicated they will refuse to take the vaccine. Healthy skepticism is a good thing, but decisions like this ought to be based on weighing the evidence of benefit versus risk.

The results of the Pfizer and Moderna trials, all released for complete public scrutiny, indicate the potential benefits are high and the risks, low. Despite the impressive speed at which the new COVID-19 vaccines were developed, they have undergone and continue to undergo a rigorous process to generate all the data needed by the FDA to determine their long-term safety and effectiveness.

Unfortunately, the gift of COVID-19 vaccines comes too late for the more than 313,000 Americans who have died from complications of COVID-19, and many others who’ve had their lives disrupted and may have to contend with long-term health consequences related to COVID-19. The vaccines did arrive in record time, but all of us wish they could somehow have arrived even sooner to avert such widespread suffering and heartbreak.

It will be many months before all Americans who are willing to get a vaccine can be immunized. We need 75-80 percent of Americans to receive vaccines in order to attain the so-called “herd immunity” needed to drive SARS-CoV-2 away and allow us all to get back to a semblance of normal personal and professional life.

References:

  1. https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/12/22/celebrating-the-gift-of-covid-19-vaccines/

Top Five Global Investment Risks In 2021 | Charles Schwab

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The top five global risks for investors in 2021 are all surprises to the consensus view:

  • Problems with the vaccine rollout,
  • Geopolitical and trade tensions do not subside,
  • Fiscal and/or monetary policy tightens,
  • A “zombie” economy, and
  • Interest rate/dollar shock.

History demonstrates that the biggest financial risks in a typical year aren’t usually from out of left field (although a black swan did occur in 2020 with the COVID-19 outbreak). Rather, they are often hiding in plain sight.

Risk appears when there is a very high degree of confidence among market participants in a specific outcome that doesn’t pan out. So, by identifying the unexpected, here are the top five downside global risks for investors in 2021. To read more: https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/top-five-global-investment-risks-2021?cmp=em-QYD

Be prepared

Whether or not these particular risks come to pass, a new year almost always brings surprises of one form or another. Having a well-balanced, diversified portfolio and being prepared with a plan in the event of an unexpected outcome are keys to successful investing.

References:

  1. https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/top-five-global-investment-risks-2021?cmp=em-QYD

COVID-19 and PTSD

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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the economic hardships it has created will take a significant emotional as well as a physical toll on Americans in the coming months and years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  It is not uncommon to experience some level of stress reactions or PTSD after a trauma or event such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people can feel detached or down, have sleep problems like nightmares, or have flashbacks where they feel the event is happening again.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you may experience stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and loneliness. And mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, can worsen.  Surveys show a major increase in the number of U.S. adults who report symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression during the pandemic, compared with surveys before the pandemic, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some people have increased their use of alcohol or drugs, thinking that can help them cope with their fears about the pandemic. In reality, using these substances can worsen anxiety and depression.

What is PTSD?

U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) defines PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) as a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a pandemic or natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault.  Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.

It’s normal to have upsetting memories, feel on edge, or have trouble sleeping after this type of event, according to VA. At first, it may be hard to do normal daily activities, like go to work, go to school, or spend time with people you care about. But most people start to feel better after a few weeks or months.

If it’s been longer than a few months and you’re still having symptoms, you may have PTSD.  For some people, PTSD symptoms may start later on, or they may come and go over time.

How people respond to these normal reactions may make the difference between long-lasting symptoms and short-lived problems.  There are treatments and strategies that work for PTSD that can help with the stress, grief, and anxiety that many people are feeling. If you have PTSD, or have symptoms that last longer than a few months after the traumatic event is over, your best chance of getting better is by working with a mental health or medical provider.

During this kind of event, you may not have any control over what’s happening, and you may feel very afraid. Anyone who has gone through something like this can develop PTSD.

Self-care strategies

Self-care strategies are good for your mental and physical health and can help you take charge of your life. Take care of your body and your mind and connect with others to benefit your mental health.  To reduce stress triggers:

  • Keep your regular routine. Maintaining a regular schedule is important to your mental health. In addition to sticking to a regular bedtime routine, keep consistent times for meals, bathing and getting dressed, work or study schedules, and exercise. Also set aside time for activities you enjoy. This predictability can make you feel more in control.
  • Limit exposure to news media. Constant news about COVID-19 from all types of media can heighten fears about the disease. Limit social media that may expose you to rumors and false information. Also limit reading, hearing or watching other news, but keep up to date on national and local recommendations. Look for reliable sources, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
  • Stay busy. A distraction can get you away from the cycle of negative thoughts that feed anxiety and depression. Enjoy hobbies that you can do at home, identify a new project or clean out that closet you promised you’d get to. Doing something positive to manage anxiety is a healthy coping strategy.
  • Focus on positive thoughts. Choose to focus on the positive things in your life, instead of dwelling on how bad you feel. Consider starting each day by listing things you are thankful for. Maintain a sense of hope, work to accept changes as they occur and try to keep problems in perspective.
  • Use your moral compass or spiritual life for support. If you draw strength from a belief system, it can bring you comfort during difficult times.
  • Set priorities. Don’t become overwhelmed by creating a life-changing list of things to achieve while you’re home. Set reasonable goals each day and outline steps you can take to reach those goals. Give yourself credit for every step in the right direction, no matter how small. And recognize that some days will be better than others.
  • Make connections. If you need to stay at home and distance yourself from others, avoid social isolation. Find time each day to make virtual connections by email, texts, phone, or FaceTime or similar apps. If you’re working remotely from home, ask your co-workers how they’re doing and share coping tips. Enjoy virtual socializing and talking to those in your home.

The COVID-19 pandemic can take a mental and emotional toll on anyone.  If you are struggling mentally and emotionally during these difficult times, there are effective treatments for those struggling mentally and emotionally that can help you live a happier, more productive life.

References:

  1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/mental-health-covid-19/art-20482731
  2. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/gethelp/selfhelp_coping.asp
  3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967
  4. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/publications/print/understandingptsd_booklet.pdf

Federal Stimulus and Relief Package Approved

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Congress has finally finalized the details on a stimulus package with a catchall measure to fund all federal spending for the remainder of the fiscal year ending in September 2021. This was accomplished after months of political gamesmanship between the two parties and Congress was at the peak of its dysfunction at the expense and added suffering of the American public.

Both chambers approved the measure and President Trump was expected to sign it. Final votes on the spending package were expected to approve it and clear it for Mr. Trump’s signature, but had yet to be scheduled. Once approved and signed, the emergency recovery plan would:

  • Provide funds for vaccine distribution.
  • Send direct payments of $600 to many Americans
  • Provide enhanced federal unemployment benefit payments of $300 per week until early spring
  • Provide food and rental assistance to millions of Americans, and
  • Provide hundreds of billions of dollars of relief to prop up small businesses, schools and other institutions struggling amid the pandemic.

Without action by Congress before the end of the calendar year, two programs designed to expand and enhance unemployment benefits are set to expire in the coming days, leaving about 12 million Americans without federal support. A number of other benefits are set to expire at the end of the year.

“We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time,” Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said Sunday night. “More help is on the way.”

Both chambers approved the measure on Sunday night, and President Trump was expected to sign it before midnight. Final votes on the spending package were expected as early as Monday to approve it and clear it for Mr. Trump’s signature, but had yet to be scheduled.

References:

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/politics/stimulus-deal-congress.html?referringSource=articleShare

African Americans Disproportionately Dying

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African Americans are dying from the coronavirus at almost 3 times the rate of their white counterparts.

Black and Hispanic Americans were disproportionately more likely to die of COVID-19 during the spring and summer months indicating that the coronavirus’s toll is falling most heavily on underserved and minority communities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

When you consider that African Americans represent 12.5 percent of the population, but account for almost 23 percent of all coronavirus deaths, the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately decimating the black working class communities across the country.

Coronavirus has become the third leading cause of death of citizens in the United States in calendar year 2020. The virus has killed more than 300,000 since arriving on U.S. shores, making it a leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.

In 2018, the 10 leading causes of death for all Americans (heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease, and suicide) remained the same as in 2017. The 10 leading causes accounted for 73.8% of all deaths in the United States in 2018.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains a provisional death count related to COVID-19. The deaths counted in that data are well below those compiled from the state and county levels because the provisional count is based on death certificates that may take weeks to filter up to the federal agency.

With respect to controlling the pandemic, Martin Luther King Jr. once declared “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This is definitely true for epidemiology and controlling the pandemic. To protect the health of all us, we must insure the health of the most vulnerable among us.

How to control COVID-19 is not a mystery — it requires wearing masks, social physical distancing of 6 feet, frequent washing of hands, widespread contact tracing and COVID testing and widespread vaccination. However, these efforts to combat the pandemic require people to trust the science and those behind the public health measures.

In the nationwide fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, well founded mistrust has developed over decades by African Americans of the government, public health officials and ‘the science’ can and has killed a disproportionate share of working class Blacks and other people of color.

References:

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/
  2. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/09/09/covid-19-disproportionate-effect-african-americans-and-how-control-column/5679676002/
  3. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/tech_notes.htm

Purpose and Direction

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What is your purpose and how do you want to change and affect the world.

Soon after the completion of Disney World in Florida, someone said, “Isn’t it too bad that Walt Disney didn’t live to see this!” Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios, replied, “He did see it – that’s why it’s here.”

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” — John F. Kennedy

When you have or know your life’s purpose, your life becomes filled with direction and meaning.  You will have the right direction and destination to set you forward.  Your purpose gives you a reason for getting up and showing up. If you don’t get up and show up, something important won’t be accomplished.

Finding Purpose and Direction

Unfortunately, it is a common for you to question where your life is going. If you’re constantly asking yourself where your choices are taking you and if you’re making the right ones, you’re not alone, according to Maxie McCoy, author of You’re Not Lost: An Inspired Action Plan for Finding Your Own Way. But feeling lost is not unusual.  Either you got to where you always said you wanted to be, only to realize you don’t want that any more. Or, you’ve never known where you’re going.

Finding and living our purpose is key to having a meaningful, fulfilling life. And, a strong sense of purpose can have a powerful positive effect. When you have a sense of purpose, you never get up in the morning wondering what you’re going to do with yourself. When you’re ‘in purpose’ — that is, engaged with and working towards your purpose — life becomes easier, less complicated, and stressful. You become more focused, like an arrow flying towards its target, and your mind feels strong, with less space for negativity to seep in.

When you don’t have a sense of purpose in your life, it makes you more vulnerable to boredom, anxiety, depression and falling into a rut, according to Psychology Today. To get yourself out of a rut, you should think small, because small is manageable. Small actions let you test and “dry run” how the action might make you might feel. Small steps are better than unyielding and misguided big ones. And over time, they allow you to get closer and closer to a life that feels full of purpose and direction. So it is important to ask yourself: What’s the absolute smallest thing I can do right now to feel more of this?

“When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” — Seneca

Victor Frankl’s famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning, in which he describes his experiences in concentration camps during the Second World War. Frankl observed that the inmates who were most likely to survive were those who felt they had a goal or purpose. Frankl himself spent a lot of time trying to reconstruct a manuscript he had lost on his journey to the camp — his life’s work. Others held on to a vision of their future — seeing their loved ones again or a major task to complete once they were free.

Aligning ourselves to a purpose often makes us less self-centered. We feel a part of something bigger, something outside ourselves, and this makes us less focused on our own worries and anxieties. Our own problems seem less significant, and we spend less time thinking about them, and so our sense of well-being increases.

“Having a purpose is the difference between making a living and making a life.” — Tom Thiss

Survival is the most basic level of purpose, common to all living things on this planet. It means the effort to meet basic physical needs for food, shelter, or to protect one’s survival in the face of others who threaten it.

The desire for purpose is one of the main reasons why people are attracted to religion. If you are a Christian, your purpose is clear: to worship God and Jesus Christ and attempt to live a virtuous, Christ-like life.

Personal Accumulative — attaining wealth, status and success: Many people in our individualistic and competitive modern societies derive their sense of purpose in these ways, according to Psychology Today. Encouraged by the consumerist ethos of our societies, their main purpose is to accumulate: to make money, to attract attention, to become famous, or rise to positions of status and power.

Purpose and hope are closely related. Working towards a goal implies that we feel that the goal is attainable, and that our lives will change for the better once we have reached it. It implies hope — depending on our type of purpose, hope for a better life for ourselves, a fairer and more just society, liberation from suffering and oppression for others, a healthier world, and so forth.

Having a sense of purpose is powerful. With a clear and concrete purpose that is greater than yourself, no ocean of difficulty is too great. Without a clear and concrete purpose, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries.

Vision and goals can provide you a sense of purpose and can help you see things and work towards things in the future.  It has been said that, “Vision that looks inward becomes duty. Vision that looks outward becomes purpose.”

References:

  1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201307/the-power-purpose
  2. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/career/a25700487/how-to-find-purpose/
  3. https://personalexcellence.co/blog/why-have-a-life-purpose/
  4. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/set-your-purpose-reach-your-goals/art-20269956
  5. http://rhapsodystrategies.com/live-life-on-purpose/

1st Generation Building Wealth

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“People want instant gratification, but regular practice is what strengthens your ability. It’s a muscle you have to build, the same as you do with exercise. It will get easier over time.” Andy Reed, PhD, Fidelity’s vice president for behavioral economics.

We all know that for financial security, you need to spend less than you earn, save more, invest and make smarter financial decisions over the long term.

To save effectively, you must establish a solid financial plan that requires understanding your current financial state , concrete goals, and regular and accurate tracking your behaviors and outcomes over time.

“People want instant gratification, but regular practice is what strengthens your ability. It’s a muscle you have to build, the same as you do with exercise. It will get easier over time,” says Andy Reed, PhD, Fidelity’s vice president for behavioral economics.

To read more, go to: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/2021-money-resolutions? fbclid=IwAR0nFHEKRYVVuXRKIPHhmBbvD4s5iovtbdS9MEt8WU0qxYh9YQYuVVWohzc&sf240961961=

References:

  1. https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/2021-money-resolutions? fbclid=IwAR0nFHEKRYVVuXRKIPHhmBbvD4s5iovtbdS9MEt8WU0qxYh9YQYuVVWohzc&sf240961961=

Vaccination and Wearing Masks

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“Once enough people have some immunity, either because of previous infection or because of vaccination, the virus will have a hard time spreading through the community.” Consumer Reports

Researchers hope that Americans getting vaccination will be sufficient to end the pandemic once there is sufficient supply and enough pf the population gets vaccinated.

In trying to understand the readily available vaccine information and how it will affect the lives of Americans, Consumer Reports has reviewed government guidance and consulted with public health experts to provide insight to their readers about the vaccine candidates.

Vaccination equals two doses

Vaccines require two doses—an initial shot and a booster, taken several weeks later. Generally with a two-dose vaccine, it takes about two weeks from the second dose for a vaccine’s protection to fully kick in, according to Natalie Dean, PhD, an assistant professor of biostatistics specializing in infectious disease and vaccine development at the University of Florida.

Though two doses are necessary, the FDA’s analysis of the Pfizer vaccine indicates that people appear to be somewhat less likely to get COVID-19 within two weeks of receiving the first dose.

It’s unclear how long protection from that first dose may last. And the second dose is still required for full protection, to ensure a more durable immune response. 

Halting the virus transmission

It is not known definitely whether getting vaccinated will prevent you from spreading the coronavirus to others. Thus, preventive measures such as social distancing, washing hands, and wearing a mask will remain important even after you get vaccinated, according to the CDC.

More research is required before scientists can say exactly how many people need to be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity “. It’s possible that with extremely effective vaccines showing 95 percent efficacy, we might hit the point where communities are protected by the time somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of people have been vaccinated, according to Kathleen Neuzil, MD, a professor of vaccinology and director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. 

It will be possible for vaccines, as long as Americans get vaccinated, to have a significant impact on ending this pandemic.

Severe allergic reactions

In the U.K., public health regulators have advised that anyone with a history of a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine, or food should not receive the vaccine. Two healthcare workers were reported to have had severe allergic reactions after receiving the vaccine. Public health experts worry that the reports could frighten people with allergies and make them think they should avoid getting the vaccine.

From Pfizer’s vaccine trial results, there were no severe allergic reactions. Deliberately, the trials excluded people who had previously had severe allergic reactions to vaccines, a Pfizer scientist said during the advisory panel’s discussion.

The FDA plans to advise that people who are allergic to components of the vaccine should not get it, an agency scientist explained. The FDA’s earlier review of Pfizer’s trial data found slightly more potential minor allergic reactions in the group that received the vaccine than in the placebo group, but none of these were severe, and none occurred immediately after people received their doses of vaccine.

References:

  1. https://www.consumerreports.org/vaccines/your-questions-about-a-coronavirus-vaccine-answered/?EXKEY=YSOCIAL_FB&fbclid=IwAR2LW6PC_JSykJwyG-Kv9ozQkNvxH-1VnYmAby-MJIr8kSJfHm7UwtyH3k8