be Prepared, not Scared
The easiest way for me to alleviate generalized anxieties about various common life issues is to come up with plans which help me to feel prepared for various possibilities. Although we can't plan for everything, we can prepare and be aware of many basic and obvious risks or potential hazards. I've been a fortunate person throughout my life, as far as natural disasters and human catastrophes are concerned. When i spent three decades in Vermont there were some incidents including many blizzards, and even an ice storm which destroyed the power grid in a region not very far from where i lived; my little sister's electricity was off for most of a week, but i fortunately inhabited one of the only neighborhoods which wasn't hit hard. There were severe thunderstorms and even a few tornados. Flash floods occurred in towns next to mine more than once. A couple of minor earthquakes could have been much worse. I was lucky to never be harmed seriously by any of those things, because back in those days i wasn't very smart about planning and preparation.
Out here among the Bellinghamsters in the state of Washington, on the shore of the
Salish Sea, there are many other types of natural hazards. I live thirty miles from a huge volcano (Mount Baker) and earthquakes are common as we are located along a zone where
three tectonic plates are grinding together. Seismic activity combined with some of the world's heaviest rainfall makes the possibility of landslides rather high, but fortunately our neighborhood is located on a hill which is mostly solid bedrock. Devastating tsunamis can occur, but our building is hopefully far enough above the ocean to avoid the worst (i think my windows are around forty meters elevation). We've had incredible windstorms which were near hurricane strength, although they're not as common here as they are in subtropical latitudes (my friends in Florida put up with tropical storms every year). A few random things have been potentially terrible out here, including power outages, bridge closures from flooding, and a pipeline leaking a few hundred tons of gasoline into the creek running through the center of the city which then exploded; but none of those events harmed me personally. I guess i've been rather lucky, considering all that could go wrong. And don't even get me started on how stupid people are prone to do all sorts of insanely catastrophic things (Chernobyl, anybody?) because there's just no end to the possibilities for misfortune.
My life as a human has been rather full of good luck when i consider the problems i've been spared. In order to (hopefully) continue surviving and avoiding harm, i've been trying to do the things i can to be well prepared for disaster avoidance and to be sensible about emergency planning. Everybody lives in different circumstances, but there are quite a few general ideas which are broadly applicable to most people's homes and lives if they want to improve their planning and think ahead about coping strategies. Nobody ever wants to have to deal with the worst scenarios; but if forces beyond our control lead to trouble, we can at least hope to be properly prepared. This week after reading about another potential type of disaster (
space weather! Who knew?!) i felt like it was time to reassure myself by going over my preparations again. There are some tremendously helpful resources online for Emergency Preparedness. One of the great places to start is on a webpage from the Government of Canada which links to tons of useful guides:
Emergencies and Disasters - links to information and services on public safety
These are some other good places to start for quick and simple planning outlines, and they remind everyone that Emergency Preparedness is not actually a big hassle. Most of the suggestions are quite simply and easy, inexpensive, and broadly applicable for most people, no matter where one's home might be geographically located:
I think part of the reason why i tend to live a low-stress life (most of the time) is because i assuage my anxieties with plans and actions which make me feel better prepared. We can't be ready for everything and anything, but we can be sensibly and reasonably equipped to deal with quite a bit, and we can help our friends to plan and think ahead, too. We can be Prepared, not Scared!
Of course, knowing the way my luck tends to run in an ironic direction, i imagine that as soon as i convince myself i've done every possible thing to be a well-prepared citizen, an asteroid will probably just crash into our planet, or a neighboring star system will surprisingly go supernova and wipe us all out... just to mock me and my pitifully tiny human ideas. Ha! Well, all kidding aside, i hope everybody can reduce their stress and anxiety by simply making smart plans and preparations.
There are, of course,
other ways for me to alleviate stress and anxiety by diverting my attention to more pleasurable pursuits, but that's another story.
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