We should avoid using the term self-isolating.

Instead we should use self-containing.

Why?

Because the language we use provides a feedback loop in our brain which can either be positive or negative. And negative or positive – our reactions are also contagious…much like Coronavirus.

So isolate means alone. Isolate implies looking inwards continuously. Isolate suggests we are attempting to single-handedly battle Coronavirus.

Wrong.

We are much better off invoking a collective norm. In other words, we need to battle Coronavirus together – it’s a ‘WE’ not an ‘I’.

Of course we have no playbook or template of how to handle the invisible scourge’s viral effects.

We are in unprecedented (or unpresidented as Trump once memorably said) times. It is only with a unity of purpose, together that we will overcome Coronavirus.

A recent, tragic example already informs us of the power of we as well.

In much the same way that the NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s reaction to the March 15 2019 Christchurch Muslim massacre was ‘They are us’ as a national rallying call, so too must we adopt language that inspires hope, not hopelessness.

So let us start by rewording language, and call it self-containment, not self-isolation.

Let us use language of collective action for the common good, and remain positive in the face of uncertainty.

Above all, let us constantly remind ourselves of an expression (and graffiti) virally turning up in Italy – and of the power of language to lift us rather than lower us.

‘Andrà tutto bene’ – everything will be all right.