Alert!
Warning!
Screams from the phone: Be prepared!
What’s the smoke index today?
Red flag warning!
Was that an earthquake?
Alert!
That’s how many of us in Northern California live these days.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough, while traveling to New England recently, both my husband’s phone and mine went wild.
The reason?
Hurricane coming. Prepare! You have 36 hours. Leave now if you can!
How’s a person supposed to live while on high alert at all times?
Six tips on how to live when living on high alert.
1. Prepare as best as you can
You can only do what you can do.
(See How to Prepare Your Life for a Fire).
Since we live in a high fire area, we’ve followed all the preparation directions sent from our county.
This summer we even took out our lawn because of the drought.
When we returned from last September’s week-long evacuation (fire), I dumped the boxes of photo albums in the living room.
“I’m not putting any of these away until they’re scanned. I can’t keep hauling photo albums everywhere.”
They sat there until June when my Adorable granddaughters learned how to scan.
We’re almost done now.
We’ve done the best we can and the photos, finances, writing, and copies of all important documents now survive in the cloud.
I, personally, don’t let my car get lower than a half-tank of gas. We just never know.
2. Put alert technology to work–and then let it do its job.
My area in Northern California lost 5200 homes in one dreadful 2017 night.
The technology that night was primitive. I scoured the Internet hunting for information and found little.
Friends’ Facebook posts are what convinced us to flee.
Government, fire, police, and county resources are much improved, now.
So, we’ve signed up for Nixle alerts, phone alerts, text alerts, and I don’t fret about getting an alert anymore.
They’ll sound.
Besides, my children and friends call and text me when they see a fire near. 🙂
We also now own a small generator (that can run the refrigerator and two electrical outlets)–and I have a video on my phone of my husband explaining the simple way to set it up and run.
When the air quality deteriorates, I close the windows and turn on the air filter.
We have plenty of batteries, flashlights, a local radio, a backup battery recharger, lantern, and even a small solar recharger (which doesn’t work well). Fortunately, we have natural gas so we can cook and take hot showers.
Oh, and plenty of friends and relatives who will take us in during an emergency.
3. Don’t live on the Internet
I do keep track of issues on the local Firestorm Update Facebook page, but not obsessively.
Once a day is fine.
We do monitor air quality (on the phone’s weather page, or on an app), and if we feel threatened, check out the ALERT Wildfire live cameras now available.
But that’s it. I don’t need to feed on others’ agitated alert!
4. Examine your values and declutter
When you have to flee in the night (twice), possessions can weigh you down.
I’ve spent the last four years contemplating what is really important for me to have (photos, writing), and what isn’t all that important (furniture, CDs, books).
While I’d hate to lose artwork and my grandmother’s 120-year-old organ, I can’t carry it all in the car.
(I know which small art items I’ll pack).
After watching our friends deal with the grief of losing so much, we’ve been decluttering now.
(If you need help, see my friend Kathi Lipp’s work).
When you get rid of things that don’t “spark joy,” it’s easier to see what’s really important to you.
Decluttering and personal value assessment make it easier to decide what to take or what to leave.
Making that decision before you have to, relieves anxiety when you find yourself in an emergency situation.
(By the way, take photos of every room in your house, inside the closets, cupboards, and drawers. Photograph everything in your yard and in your garage. Post those photos in the cloud, but also copy them onto a memory stick. If the worst happens, you’ll need to document all your possessions.)
5. Make a backup plan and/or consider moving
During my 20 years as a Navy wife, we always had “a plan.” Like many military families, we needed to know what we would do if the worst things happened.
Knowing ahead of time, meant that while none of our worries ever came to pass, I didn’t have to fret about it.
We’ve already discussed what will happen if our house burns down. We know what we will do.
We even have an idea of where we would move–if that became something we should do.
Our family talks freely about these ideas–should we move?
So far, the answer is no.
But, we have a backup plan, just in case.
Besides, where would we move? Every place has challenges and we’ve gotten used to wildfires, drought, electrical outages, earthquakes, and smoke.
(In 2017, we got three of those in one night!)
While we may not want to deal with those issues, we know what to do.
(Evacuation plans in place, water conservation in place, alas, a generator, and an air filter).
6. Choose peace with God–aka, pray
We believe that this home in this part of the world is where God wants us to be–right now.
Since we know that the only real peace comes from being in the center of God’s will for our lives, we’re okay.
That doesn’t mean I don’t feel my heart scramble to hysteria when an alert sounds on the phone.
I still grieve for those who I’ve lost because of fires.
The fires many endured have induced trauma. Christian inner healing helped.
Finding peace with God and praying, help center my soul on what is important.
Prayer calms my heart and reminds my mind that we have a plan and know how to execute it if needed.
Thanks be to God.
Final–and Important–Note
There’s nothing wrong with being afraid.
But, when fear dominates your life and it’s hard to control your anxiety, it’s time to find help.
As a Christian, I recommend a Christian counselor.
If that doesn’t work for you, find someone qualified to work with your greatest need–especially trauma.
Where I live, counselors are readily available, many of whom have gone through the same fire-riddled trauma.
Don’t wait too long. There’s help available. You’re not alone. You don’t need to suffer alone. Get help.
Tweetables
How not to remain on high alert in fire country. Click to Tweet
6 steps to help calm anxiety when living in fire country. Click to Tweet
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