Hurricane Coming: To Stress or Rest?

You wake up and turn on the news, only to find the talking head on the screen warning of impending doom.

“This system is gaining strength! All hurricane precautions must be taken, or else! Shutter your home and consider evacuating immediately for the safety of you and your family!”

And to be honest, that’s not even being dramatic. At one point, I actually heard a weatherman say if we did not evacuate, we would surely die.

Regardless of the circumstances, the “hurricane” is coming. This can be represented by having a truly terrifying deadline coming up, family crisis or even a conflict with a friend. While the scenarios vary, the level of emotion can be the same with emotional fear (trauma) as actual physical threat!

What do you do? Do you choose to live in FEAR, with inner turmoil? Or instead, do you choose to let yourself experience healthy stress accompanied by inner peace?

You have the choice.

If you want to choose the latter, try sticking to these prompts:

• Focus on what is true

• Make a safety plan

• Release and surrender the ‘untrue’ fear

Your safety plan may include shuttering up the house, waiting in line for gas and bottled water and maybe even getting out of dodge. Or, you may choose to stay home and ride it out. Regardless of your choice, you do not have to let the Hurricane itself dictate your emotions. You have a choice.

Target the statements you’re telling yourself that make you afraid. They may include: my house is going to flood, I’m going to be killed, my family is going to be killed, my roof is going to lift off, etc.

Go through each one and ask yourself if it is true. Perhaps it’s a possibility, but how much of one? Is there something you can do to prevent that chance from occurring?

Let the rest go. Focus on truth. And release your fears.

—Jessica Jeans & Lauren Preusz