We recently moved to St Kitts (more about this later!) and were warmly welcomed to the Caribbean by two very intense hurricanes, Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.  In the lead up to the hurricanes the media headlines were, as you would expect, attention grabbing ( “super storm”, “the beast”, “deadly” , “catastrophic”)  creating a lot of anxiety for those of us about to be faced with two of the strongest hurricanes of the season.  As I reflect on my experience of these hurricanes it got me thinking: ‘how can we get through not just physical weather-based storms, but the storms of life with our mental well-being intact?’

What my experience of being faced with “the beast” (Hurricane Irma) and “another deadly storm” (Hurricane Maria) has taught me is that whilst the world around you may feed your fear, create confusion and leave you mentally exhausted, you are not powerless, you can take certain steps to ensure you get through the storm without being mentally battered so that you can effectively deal with the run-up, the storm itself and then its aftermath.

 What the hurricanes taught me can be summarised with four p’s:

•           Planning and Preparation
•           Perspectives
•           Perseverance
•           Perfecting

Planning and Preparation

Atlantic hurricanes are interesting, we see the storms coming. Like many other storms, they don’t just appear out of nowhere. They  start weeks in advance on the west coast of Africa as tiny little weather systems that seem insignificant, but if we take a closer look we see the tell-tale signs that something  is brewing.  When we look at the storms of life, many of them do appear out of nowhere but a significant number are like hurricanes, they don’t just materialise out of nowhere, if we look at the signs we can tell something is wrong.

This means we can plan and prepare for many storms. We can take some time to understand what is approaching us. We can go deep, go beyond the headlines of “deadly” and “the beast” and come up with a prediction of what this hurricane is going to do, where is it likely to go and then plan and prepare – am I going to evacuate and avoid the situation or am I going to ride it out and confront it head on?

Evacuation is, at times, the best option. The storm is so deadly that really there is nothing else you can do but carry out a risk assessment and say: ‘Well, I need to get out of the way.’ You avoid getting hurt personally, but those nearest and dearest may get caught in the storm and its aftermath and you’ll have to help them pick up the pieces.

Riding it out and confronting the storm head on is a hard one as you have to make a judgement as to which storms to confront, but this option gives you the best opportunity for personal growth and strengthening your character. For success with this option you can’t just hope for the best, you have to plan and this starts with deep understanding. Do you understand the storm and how it got here? Do you know all the possible paths the storm could take and all the possible outcomes? What might the aftermath look like? Who will get hit by the storm? Who are the vulnerable people?  Once you have an understanding then the planning and preparation starts. With hurricanes, there are clear preparation procedures to help the public get through the storm, for example: stock up on enough  drinking water and non-perishable foods to last 1-2 weeks;  have enough additional water for personal hygiene matters; if you’re on medication have enough medication for about a month; make sure your house has good hurricane protection features (hurricane shutters) etc.

We too have to come up with a plan for whatever problem we face, this involves putting our emotions aside and being very logical, asking some key questions and coming up with the right plan to deal with our personal storm.

The benefit of planning is that it takes away the fear and anxiety of the unknown. We’re not swayed by what everyone says, we’ve done our analysis and we know what needs to be done. We have some peace of mind.

Perspectives

Another lesson that Hurricanes Irma and Maria taught me was the power of speaking to people who have been through a few storms of their own and come through victoriously.  Sometimes we forget that we are not the first to weather the storm and we certainly won’t be the last. What’s their secret? How do they navigate storms so well? – planning and preparation.

As we tried to prepare for the hurricanes, it was the little tips from those who had been there before that really helped:

The neighbour who said: “fill up the bath with water, this way you have lots of water to flush the toilet, brush your teeth, wash up dishes and have a wash – the water company may have to turn off the water for days .” – very practical tip

The real estate agent who said: “don’t panic, these storms are not as bad as they say, you’ll be fine” – very reassuring

The insurance broker: “fill up the car with gas, fill up the washing machine with water (you can never have enough water) and pray, God will take you through” – very practical and a reminder that God is in control.

The family friend: “make sure all your devices are charged and your phone is topped up with enough money so you can make contact should you need help” – another practical tip

When we’re faced with a storm, getting different perspectives from trusted people who have been through a few storms is invaluable.

Perseverance

Hurricanes are long! It feels like they’ll never end. From the time the weather starts to deteriorate to the end of the storm takes about 24 hours. It feels like a lifetime! Imagine 24 hours of extremely strong winds and rain. It’s scary and it’s tough mentally.

How do you get through the actual storm? You have to persevere.  Persevering through a hurricane means: taking care of yourself (you have to eat, sleep and relax); keeping occupied so the storm doesn’t consume you, taking stock (Is our plan working? Do we have everything we need? Is everyone in my household ok?); making good use of the calm periods and appreciating the moment (strange as it may seem, some parts of the storm can be enjoyable or can provide time for personal reflection)

Perfecting

After the hurricane, there is plenty of time to evaluate what worked well and what didn’t and you can use this information to perfect your approach to the next storm.  Don’t ride the storm in vain; let it be a learning experience so that it makes you stronger next time.

Hurricane Lee is just around the corner and we pray that it by-passes the Caribbean, but if it doesn’t we now feel equipped to ride it out, although it’ll be very draining after two hurricanes in two weeks!

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Message from The Lake Foundation:

The Lake Foundation recognises that St Kitts was spared the full force of Hurricanes Irma and Maria whilst other islands were directly hit. Our thoughts and prayers are with those islands who have sadly lost so much and we have donated supplies to the Salvation Army to help with the relief effort. This article doesn’t aim to trivialise the experience of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria but aims to encourage reflection on life’s emotional storms.

We encourage everyone to make a donation to the Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria relief efforts particularly to efforts being made to rebuild the British Virgin Islands, Barbuda, Dominica and St Martin who were hit directly by the hurricanes and sustained significant damage.