Above & Beyond’s Paavo Siljamaki sheds light on his COVID-19 diagnosis
Over two months have passed since Paavo Siljamäki of Above & Beyond revealed he had fallen ill to the COVID-19 virus. Now, as a survivor of Coronavirus, the UK trance mogul spoke to Billboard in an exclusive interview on beating the disease. During the peak of his illness, Paavo describes severe, excruciating chest pains, how terrifying it was, and how much of toll the virus took emotionally and mentally: “I had really, really severe chest pains … On about day eleven, I woke up at 5 a.m. thinking I was having a heart attack.”
Paavo speaks to what he thinks people should know about the pandemic as someone who’s had coronavirus pretty seriously:
“I feel like right now in the world, people all want to take a stand and make a decision on something, regarding who’s right or wrong. I certainly spend a lot of time watching the news and trying to understand it. Having gone through it, I would say that maybe it’s time we all realize that we don’t need to know it all. My health thing was uncertain. I didn’t know how it was going to go. I had to be OK with the fact that I really didn’t know what was going to happen.
It just feels like there’s a lot of fear, uncertainty and stress in people. Everyone’s looking for a target for their anger and fear, and politics is going to give you a great place for it. Conspiracy theories are going to give you a great place for it. Fighting with people is going to give you a great place for it.
I wish for people to be aware that that’s what’s happening. If something you’ve read on the news makes you really angry, you need to consider whether it’s that thing, or if it’s your own anger being multiplied by this thing. Ask yourself if you can be happier tomorrow. Maybe it’s watching a bit less news or engaging less in certain things that affect your personal happiness. For me personally, the happier I am the better person I am in society. So I really have to actively pick what I read and do.”
Read the full interview here.
