(and Maintaining Momentum)
Move through the stages and emotions
As soon as they realize the huge vulnerability is real, most people begin to experience strong emotions. Not everyone will experience all of the following emotions in this order, but these feelings are common:
1. Disbelief / denial (To get beyond this stage, people should look up some of the information sources and view some videos on the subject.)
2. Anxiety / stress / fearfulness / overwhelm (See the section on anxiety at the bottom of the page for ways to cope.)
3. Anger that the people in power have allowed us to be vulnerable.
4. Irritation that you have to spend time and money to protect yourself, and irritation that this is an interruption in your life.
5. Acceptance and mild relief or gratitude that a powerful, low-cost solution exists.
6. Enthusiasm for the chance to protect the people you care about.
7. Some peace of mind once you’ve prepared and passed this on.
Our original Grid Emergency Themes!
The following three themes help people cope. They are mentioned frequently on this website and in our videos.
Treat this as an insurance situation, not a potential doomsday. We want you to take swift action, and then not have to think much about this threat and other mega-threats. Nobody worries about house fires once they’ve purchased homeowners insurance.
The sooner you take action, the better you will feel. Each step will make you better prepared or will help others to be better prepared. Thus each completed action (each of our steps) should lower your stress and anxiety, and increase your peace of mind.
It’s important to have a clear positive vision of what a well-managed disaster would look like: Americans and Canadians would be “camping out at home while the grid is being repaired” (or while some other disaster is being handled.) In other words, many people have a graphic vision of a doomsday situation (in part, thanks to movies and zombie TV series), but people don’t have a clear vision of a stable, positive situation. People will need to do some block-by-block organizing at the start of a crisis, but mainly we’d be camping at home until the grid is repaired!
If all this is causing anxiety or stress:
- Anxiety is a form of energy. Channel it into preparation. As mentioned, each concrete thing you accomplish will make you better prepared and lower your stress.
- If you’re extremely anxious, keep reminding yourself, “The odds of this happening today or tomorrow are near zero. I have time.”
- Have faith that others will prepare once they understand that this is an “insure yourself” situation. This insurance is very inexpensive compared to all other forms of insurance!
- If you are really stressed or feel paralyzed, get ongoing personal support to keep moving forward. Sometimes this can be a close friend or family member. Sometimes you might rely on a crisis line or a therapist.
- We do ask people to tell others about this threat so they can become prepared, but we don’t want you to try to persuade others if you’re stressed or feeling panic. They will get a bad first impression of the situation, or catch your fear.
- Ask yourself, “What is the best, most loving use of my time, right now?”– and focus on that. Sometimes the best thing is preparation or informing others; and sometimes it’s taking a break from thinking about this.
Now continue on to learn about the problem!