144 Dushka Zapata, Coronavirus Acts of Kindness

We continue our run of legendary authors. Today, one of the most prolific and important writers in the world, Dushka Zapata. Her work has been viewed over 157 million times on question & answer site Quora.  In this episode, we get right into how she’s dealing with the coronavirus. Dushka has a powerful point of view on Social Distancing and why we should be conducting our selves as if we already had it. She also touches on why we need to learn to become “elastic” and how we’re all connected. Living in Uncertainty Dushka is exactly what we all need right now! She shares how to deal with uncertainty, especially in the present time. People have been looking outwardly too much and she says this is not helping them. “We are looking for answers in other people and the fact is, no one has the answers. I think that’s really interesting because you forget that you can look within for certain things. Like managing your anxiety and managing the fear of scarcity, which is one of the things that, we are wired to be fearful of.” - Dushka Zapata Acts of Kindness Dushka reads to us something that she wrote on Quora about acts of kindness in times of coronavirus.  “In my first supermarket visit, the shelves that carried cans, crackers, toilet paper, were completely empty People around me were clearly on edge. Stressed, anxious, haphazardly grabbing things from shelves and throwing them into their carts. I wanted to buy dishwasher detergent and there was one left but I couldn’t reach it. I suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness rise inside of me. That’s when I saw that the box I had been reaching for was right in front of my eyes. I took it, then realized a very tall person was handing it to me. “It looks like you wanted this, yes?” he says this to me very gently. I turn and we just stand there looking at each other, a pause in the middle of a frenzy spinning around us. He smiles at me. His smile feels like someone just dropped a sturdy anchor in the middle of a turbulent ocean. The times we are living in are surreal. Please, stop and be nice to someone.” - Dushka Zapata Kindness and Elasticity Dushka thinks the current pandemic has enabled people to show their best and worst. She cites how people have frenzied over grocery stocks while some other people have also been extra careful and friendly to others.  “One of the things that fascinate me about these kinds of times: one is kindness, that I want to talk about and just like thinking of other people and the other is, the ability to be elastic, flexible. How are you adapting what you’re doing to survive.” - Dushka Zapata To hear more about kindness and elasticity and Dushka’s point of view on social distancing, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Dushka Zapata is one of the most prolific and popular writers working today.  On question and answer site Quora her work has been viewed over 157 million times. She’s the author of eight best-selling books. Dushka has over 20 years experience as a senior communications executive in Silicon Valley.  When she’s not writing, she works as a serves as communications executive in San Fransciso. Links: Quora: Duskha Zapata