Prepared

Caution: Please read the following post with the humility, compassion, and empathy with which it was written. I’m still learning how to do life along with my friends and family and offer the following with tons of motherly love.

I am afraid of a lot of things. I’m a tiny lady and it makes me feel like I’m at a disadvantage in many life scenarios. I’m still working out my peace. When I was in midwifery school though, I learned how NOT to be afraid of emergencies. I learned that fear is counterproductive to purposeful action and to lean on my training.

I feel deeply today for people I see are afraid of the possibility of an emergency. I also see that as a culture, we haven’t had much training… or haven’t really suffered much if we think toilet paper will keep us safe. Travel to places where people toil in a way most people in our generation have never imagined shows that when things go to crap, it’s not toilet paper humans are wishing for.

I’m not an expert at crisis preparedness but growing up with outdoorsmen, I have a few outside of the Charmin box ideas that might help us feel less anxiety and even raise the next generation with less fear and more independence. Here are some thoughts you can take or leave like an all you can eat buffet.

Do you know how to navigate without Waze, with a compass and map? Do you know your loved one’s addresses and telephone numbers by heart without your hand-held “phone book”? Could you wrangle up some food if the supermarket was closed? If you didn’t grow up hunting, can you craft a trap? Do you know what’s edible in a field of “weeds” like dandelions or chickweed? Can you start a fire? How about at the master’s degree level without matches? Do you know how to sensibly stock up on dry goods that can be stretched into many meals? Do you know how to make water potable in a variety of circumstances? Do you know how to make effective medicine out of common plants? Are you teaching these skills to your kids? 

I’m not suggesting that we will or will not need these skills in the near future. I’m sharing that real preparation can help us ALL feel less afraid of any emergency because if something happens, we will rely on our training. Fear is a guide. It says to do something you are not doing or not to do something dangerous that you are getting ready to do. I propose that the collective anxiety we are experiencing is a beacon asking us to revisit our life skills. 

If your protected, packaged, structured upbringing failed to expose you to this kind of know-how, choose something that feels most important to learn about today… now. It’s counterproductive to panic in an emergency, so let’s stock our pantries with skills instead of just toilet paper. And then take a collective, deep breath, showing compassion to ourselves and each other in this very tricky world we live in.