In sum, the hits just keep coming (quite literally, depending on where you live), and to be perfectly honest, it’s hard to feel anything but bleak. It’s funny how that works — just like car keys, hope always seems hardest to find when you need it most.
But in our interview with poet Maggie Smith earlier this year, she told us that hope is a practice. In some of her darkest days, Smith began writing notes to herself as a way of “trying on” hope like it was an old sweater.
"Even though it didn't fit well, like it was scratchy and oversized and I hated it, and I couldn't wait to take it off because I just felt bad," she said, "it started to work. The more I told myself it was going to be OK, and the more I put myself into that mindset as a daily practice, I saw a difference."
If that feels too abstract or you’re not one for poetry, the wisdom still applies: To find hope, keep moving.
And with the week’s events, it’s a great time to move specifically towards emergency preparedness. When dealing with times of crisis, a former head of FEMA said, “hope isn’t a strategy” — he was right, but my humble line edit would be: hope isn't a strategy, but having a strategy might give you hope. And we’ve got lots of resources to help with that.
NPR
Build Your Emergency Preparedness Strategy
Listen here for advice on emergency preparedness during hurricane season. (It’s got great all-weather tips, too, including a list of items for your go-kit.) And if you’re in Louisiana right now, here’s how to stay safe and informed.
This natural disaster resources roundup is from 2020, but it still has a lot of great information on where to look for state and government resources during the pandemic.
Dealing with disaster is hard. For mental preparation, listen to advice on dealing with uncertainty from people who’ve been through it, learn strategies for how to give advice in times of need, or get started with therapy.
Here’s to hoping, and to planning, friends. Keep moving.
— Andee Tagle, Life Kit producer
Thanks for sticking with us! Watch this space for next week's episodes on:
💰 Crushing Debt I 🏢🏠 Thriving In A Hybrid Workplace I 😰 Good Anxiety
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