People have a lot of fears associated with vaccination, someone is afraid of side effects, and someone is a worldwide conspiracy. However, as with any overly emotional reaction, this fear is usually not what we voice at all. What’s more, most of the time we don’t realize it at all…
The issue of vaccination against the backdrop of an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus and new restrictions is particularly acute. Heated debates do not cease in the Internet space, people are divided into two camps — anti-vaxxers and supporters of immediate vaccination. There are practically no indifferent people left.
The intensity of passions is such that it often comes to personal insults and threats. Some talk about the danger posed by unvaccinated people to humanity as a whole, and propose to punish them with a ruble and even introduce criminal penalties for refusing to be vaccinated. Others, in response, accuse the opponents of vaccination of collusion with the authorities, cowardice and demand not to infringe on their freedom and not encroach on their right to choose.
«Suffocating Pressure»
My client was so afraid that she would be forced to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that she was ready to leave a high-paying job abroad. The very first questions at the session showed that the topic was deeply experienced and the answers were difficult because of overwhelming emotions. She seemed to walk in a circle, repeating the same phrases, unable to reveal the topic.
Then I decided to use the visualization technique. I suggested that she close her eyes and imagine where exactly she feels this fear and what it is.
She listened to her feelings and said that she felt a suffocating pressure, which she later described as large white hands squeezing her throat. They were a symbol of some international conspiracy depriving people of their freedom.
She wanted to crawl away to a safe place, to a beautiful green park that seemed like an oasis in the surrounding darkness.
After all, behind its high gates, she would feel protected among people. But here’s the paradox, the feeling of longing and anxiety intensified even more.
Then I asked to see if she really wants to get there and whether she will find deliverance from the hated hands around her neck. Looking around, the girl said that in fact the place of «rescue» is just an illusion. In life, it evoked pleasant feelings in her, but this is an escape from reality.
Being in this park did not bring her the deep level of ease she dreamed of. And when she said this, she realized that the fear was not about vaccination and infringement of freedoms, but about her own fear of change, about the feeling of loneliness in the city in which she lived.
Despite outward well-being, this beauty was imaginary, as was the place in her visualization where she expected to find salvation.
The grip loosened, and she was able to throw imaginary hands off her neck, rise and go where her heart beckoned.
Without a sense of regret, she left the place inhabited for years and let it go with ease. She traveled in her imagination to different places, listening to her feelings, how they responded, and whether she felt like she belonged there. It was important for her to find not external beauty or fun, but her own corner, filling the inside with energy, calmness and belonging, opening up opportunities for new meetings and achievements.
So, by coming face to face with her fear, she was able to identify it. And boldly step into the future, leave the established life in her city and move to a new one with an open heart and a clear vision of what she wants for herself.
Find the real reason
Being afraid of getting sick, being afraid of being vaccinated, or being afraid of not being vaccinated is completely normal. Fear is one of the basic emotions that is designed to protect a person. But people often do not realize what really “triggers” them so much.
If an emotion is so strong that it requires a person to make drastic decisions or simply exhausts emotionally and encourages them to make aggressive attacks, it would be good to find out what is behind it.
After all, it may be a fear of doctors as a result of some story from childhood. Or fear of sudden death and the prospect of leaving children without support, especially if they are small. Or maybe these are some installations that have settled in the head and become unconscious.
You can try to write down everything that worries you in order to structure your thoughts and try to find the true cause of fear yourself.
Well, if you feel that you can’t cope and the problem is deep, then you can seek help from a specialist. The main thing is to remember that in any situation there is a way out, you just need to try to find it.