How do I cope with this overwhelming situation? What am I going to do to make it through? How do we right this wrong? The answer is pretty much always the same: whatever it takes.
What have you done when the situation demanded it that you didn’t think you would be capable of?
During the incident of a serious illness of a family member, I called the medical office and was advised to bring her in, although I knew I was physically unable to do this by myself. A close friend said to me, “If it were me, I’d just call an ambulance”. I did, and at the office we were there and immediately rushed to the hospital where treatment was successful. Better to not wait at times like this.
Whatever it takes is really the only answer. In 1995 our home, which we had only been in for five months, was flooded, and to make matters worse, our business was in our home, so it was a double blow. After the first, overwhelming shock, you simply have to START, somehow, to work your way out of the mess, one day, sometimes one hour or one minute at a time. We sat down and made a plan, figured out where we were going to live, where we were going to store our stuff in the interim, and most importantly, how we were going to continue to make a living. It took many months, but we managed – fortunately with the help of many generous helping hands. Sometimes there were actually too many at one time, but we have been forever grateful. And grateful for flood insurance! But seeing the folks in Houston, and now in Florida does bring it all back. I remember the great piles of trash that had once been our possessions at the curb, the sleepless nights, the feeling that it would never be safe there again, that we wouldn’t have the strength to get through it. I find myself crying again, for all the folks going through those same nightmares. Please try to help them in any way you can, so they can keep on keeping on.