Stop, Drop and Roll
A new approach to preparedness for all of life’s little surprises
Welcome to The LIFT
Let me know you were here by liking this post, leaving a comment + sharing it with your friends! If you haven’t subscribed, click the “Subscribe Now” button below for a weekly pick me up. A new issue comes out every Sunday + will be delivered right to your inbox. You can read previous issues here.
FRESH STARTS
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss back-to-school days. The new backpack. New clothes. New schedule. New friends. New teachers.
My youngest daughter graduated college in 2014, so you’d think I’d be over the whole nostalgia of back-to-school by now. But no. It still creeps up around this time each year.
If you consider the fact that I started school in 1973, it kind of makes sense. Back to school was part of life for 40 years. Why would I expect it to just go away?
As much as I long for those days, I also remember how stressful it was. The emotional roller coaster of excitement + terror of new classes, friends + teachers. The overwhelm of calendaring. The extra money being spent.
It wasn’t exactly an easy time of year. As a student. Or as a mother.
Do you remember? Maybe you’re in the throes of it yourself right now.
As a retailer, I’m gearing up for the busiest season of the year with the holidays ahead. It’s exciting + fun, but it’s also an important time for my business.
Much like back-to-school time, I’m working on my calendar, freshening up my resources + putting together a plan for success.
As I line up my ducks to prepare for the busy season, I am remembering an important lesson.
The tendency is always to think ‘What can I DO’ to be prepared?
When the better question is ALWAYS, ‘What can I STOP doing’ to be prepared?
What can I remove from my plate? Where do I waste time? Where have I complicated things? Where can I simplify? Automate? Get back to basics?
How can I tap back into my core services? How can I make things more simple for my clients? What can I help them STOP doing?
It’s worth some thought.
When you find yourself overwhelmed by something - trying to figure out what to DO…
Maybe the answer is in the thing you can STOP doing.
Hitting the reset button. Going back to basics. Giving yourself a fresh start.
PREPARED NOT SCARED
September is Disaster Preparedness Month - a time to raise awareness about preparing for disasters + emergencies that could occur.
When I was a publisher, we always included disaster preparedness tips in our September publications. It’s the perfect time of year to freshen up your disaster plan. Check your insurance. Freshen up your emergency kits.
We are emerging from a historic heatwave here in San Diego. I feel sorry for all of you trying to kick off the school year in this heat. It’s been brutal.
On top of this, we had a few little ‘disasters’ in our smaller lives this week. Water outage. Family emergency. Stuff like that. Which got me thinking about disaster preparedness. Getting ready. Being ready. Responding to unexpected events.
I’m going to leave some resources below for things you can do to prepare yourself for disasters, but I thought it might be even more helpful to share some thoughts about what you can ‘not’ do to be prepared.
For emergencies. Disasters. Change. Life.
STOP, DROP + ROLL
Stop, Drop + Roll is an effective strategy for extinguishing clothing fires, but it works for a lot of life’s fires as well.
When life throws flames at you (the unexpected), take a moment to remember you don’t have to keep running around with your clothes on fire. You can minimize the burn with a little bit of stop, drop + roll.
1. STOP: OVERSCHEDULING
Don’t you think it’s strange how we work so hard to go about our ‘normal’ lives in the midst of a disaster? We try to hold our schedule together. Our jobs. Our responsibilities. Instead of just adjusting.
Most of us don’t have room to adjust. We have things packed so tightly that we can’t stop or it will all come crashing down. We have every moment scheduled. There’s no room for the unexpected. Which makes any emergency all the more stressful.
What would life look like if you had room for the unexpected? Would you handle the unexpected a little better?
2. DROP: STRAINING RESOURCES
One cool thing that happened here in California during the peak of the heatwave…
We were sent a daily text that reminded us to conserve energy to avoid rolling blackouts as the power grid was strained.
On one particular day, those warnings turned into an emergency alert. And because of the communication + the response of users who immediately cut back after the alert, we managed to avoid blackouts that day.
It was a good reminder of what we can do when we work together. It was also a good reminder of how we can reduce our strain on resources by choosing to use our appliances during off-peak hours.
This same thing applies to life. Are you straining your resources? How strapped do you feel right now? Do you have the resources you need to manage a disaster?
What would life look like if you had extra resources? Money? Time? Support? Where can you save energy?
3. ROLL: WALKING THE LINE
It’s so easy to get caught up in what we need to do to prepare + of course, these things are important. But there are a lot of ways we can prepare by doing less, using less.
It’s a fine line I know. The line between too much + not enough.
We never really know where the line is until we cross it, but when we find ourselves on the other side of the line, it’s a good time to quickly course correct.
We don’t have to keep plowing ahead the same way we always have. We can choose to step back or stop. To roll back + forth.
What would life feel like if you allowed yourself to find that line for yourself?
YOUR MISSION:
This week, ask yourself - where can you stop, drop + roll? How can you prepare for the unexpected this fall by doing less?
RESOURCES:
READ: Protect the Life You’ve Built | FEMA
READ: Disaster Preparedness Resources | Ready.gov
IN SUMMARY:
I hope you’ll join me in a little bit of disaster preparedness this month. A little extra room. A few extra resources. There are lots of simple things we can do (and NOT do) to make the unexpected a little less stressful.
See you next week?
Meanwhile - you can read thru the archives here. And, please reach out to me anytime!
Email: karen@becounter.com
Instagram: @redefiningkaren
I had a car accident this past week. Within one second my own disaster happened. I have a cracked rib, bruises and a totaled car but I’m alive. You can’t imagine how my friends have rallied. Great newsletter and super timely. Thanks.