As I take a walk around my neighborhood I still see a lot of yard signs with misinformation, you’ve probably seen them too, they read:

THE ONLY THING MORE CONTAGIOUS THAN A VIRUS IS HOPE“.

I get the idea, and more importantly the emotion behind the message but it’s simply not true.

Hope is an extremely fragile thing and easily extinguished. People living with hope don’t shut down their family business of twenty years, they improvise—adapt— reinvent, and if necessary, find ways around “challenges.”

The same goes for hopeful clients and consumers, hope finds a way to support your favorite establishments and offer much needed encouragement.

  • Hopeful people love learning;
  • Hopeful people take bold risks;
  • Hopeful people live to the fullest!

Is that you? I hope so. Though there is much to be alarmed about every day, there‘s always hope for those who decide defeat is not an option and challenge every instance of “bad” news.

Don’t succumb to fear; be hope to your neighbor. Fear is the thing more contagious than a virus, Unchecked fear will spread like wildfire. Fear causes people to do dumb, irrational, insane things.

Don’t accept anything as a fact until you’ve done appropriate research. The more dire or consequential the news, the more effort you want to invest in your investigation.

If the news is real then you’ll be armed with facts. Truth will always better prepare you to make wise decisions and necessary adjustments—if the news isn’t true, then you won’t waste any time preparing for a fiction.

Facts are your friend, and there’s no such thing as an incorrect fact. But there’s definitely a plethora of bad data; our job is to separate the two, to discern what is certain. Only then can we see the right path forward.

Remember, it’s not always the case but most of the time fear really is: False Evidence Appearing Real.