Boring Rainbow

My dear friends.

OK, maybe not all of these are “life saving,” but, perhaps, sanity saving, and thus saving the lives of everyone near you, who loves you, and has to interact with you after The Big One.

So let’s think about a tiny collection of things that you can do now, surprising things, maybe, to help you make it through a natural disaster. These won’t necessarily save your life, though they could. Instead, they’re like bandaids. You don’t usually think about them but they’re nice to have when you need it. This tiny collection, also, is about things that you might not think about. I have a small list to share that might be helpful.

Buy a Telescope

And this is true: After disaster strikes, the stars will be out. They won’t be partially out; they’ll be magificently out, adorning the entire sky in a way that children never know, that humans today rarely get to see. They’ll be out and aware, and you will get to see them. Poet and writer Asia Suler pointed this out when she talked about going through devastating hurricane. There were so many stars!

This is a metaphor for life, too, in general. When something leaves you, see what you can see in its absence.

When I went through a divorce, I was so devastated, but a good friend told me “Now you can do or have the things that you couldn’t when working with another person.” For me, that meant that I bought a six pack of Coors Light. Why? Because that’s what everyone drank in Italy, when I lived there, when they walked the streets at 11 pm. And that’s what my person hated. So, the stars. Coors Light. You get the picture.

Unplug from the World

If you suddenly lose connection to the outside world, and won’t be able to post, comment, or like for weeks on end, you will suffer. Simply due to habit. I urge you to not only put your phone down regularly for your mental health, but to set it aside to learn, to habituate yourself to a life where it might feel useless.

You can block your Facebook wall, you can get a dumb phone, you can read real books, get a camera that isn’t a phone, anything, really. Try life, even a few days, without it. Then, if disaster strikes, you’ll have one less stress–the stress of not being able to connect with anyone–off your shoulders.

Yet Plug Everything In

This is also essential, I think. Keep everything charged. Plug them in at night. Top up. That way you’ll have electronics to soothe you when you need them (right away), and you won’t drain your emergency batteries trying to recharge your screens.

This also goes for gas. Make sure you have enough and extra for generators, etc.

Start Walking and Stay Fit

My son’s school is about five miles (maybe six) away from my home. If an earthquake comes, I would need to walk that many miles to go get him, and then walk him back home. Bikes? Sure, maybe. But I’d have to cross some overpasses that may or may not be laying sprawled on the ground. A bike can’t get over that easily. So I need to stay in shape to make sure I can walk that far. So I do… I think… hopefully. I go on long walks to stay fit enough to make it if I need it.

You honestly never know when you’ll need to walk for miles on end. Be fit enough to do it, if you can.

Read Real Books, and Collect Them

You might be out of electricity for weeks or months on end, and you will want an escape. Purchase real books, made with real paper, so that you can entertain yourself and little ones when the power eventually fades from your Kindle.

One of my favorites? Charlotte’s Web. Children’s classics are really something to marvel over. We just read The Call of the Wild and it was exciting, excruciating, and a real tear-jerker. Now we’re reading Charlotte’s Web and I wonder… Where it has been all my life? How is it that I could have gone my whole life without it? Also Anne of Green Gables is a hilarious read. Can you tell what I like? Throw in a self-help and I’m in Heaven.

Bonus: Give Cookies to Your Neighbors

Or, throw a neighborhood gathering. If you make the effort to meet your neighbors, then you can learn who will need checking on during an emergency, and who you connect with right away. These friends nearby might mean the world to you when the world closes down, and vice versa. I know that I can count on my neighbors. Heck, I cut my thumb once, badly, and my husband was out of town, so I texted my neighbors and asked if anyone could come over and give me a hug. And my neighbor did! She chatted with me on my porch, looked at my band aid, and let me feel, a tiny bit, like I was taken care of. I mean, it’s a shock when you cut your finger and you’re bleeding, and all you can find is a dinky plastic bandaid with hearts on it and you can’t believe you cut it with a tiny handsaw, making dollhouse furniture. That’s my life sometimes.

And now that I’m closer with my neighbors, I know that I’ll be checking on the three older ladies who live up the street, the skateboarder who had his hip replaced, and everyone else. And I know that, if we need anything, they will be there, too.

So make some cookies and drop them off and get out there and meet some people.