Resilience: The Necessity Of Our Times

One hundred and seventy nine days ago, I packed my car, not know if I was leaving forever or for only a few days. I had about an hour to decide what to bring and what to leave. Mainly I took photos, clothes, toiletries, my work stuff, and easy to find items that it would be difficult or prohibitively expensive to replace. I left irreplaceable family heirlooms, things that were too big and bulk or heavy to move; things that if I had no house would be burdensome.

My entire town was doing the same thing. We were under mandatory evacuation from the Kincade Fire. It took an excruciating 2 hours to go 1.5 miles to the onramp of the highway since we were all leaving at once.

Inching along, I felt such a mix of thoughts and emotions. I was incredibly grateful the fire was not baring down on us as Paradise CA. had experienced last year; that we had time to plan and make decisions; far different from the devastating Tubbs Fire 2 years ago, where people had to run out of their houses in the middle of the night with not much more than their car keys. Just then the woman who I was going to stay with texted me to let me know she was evacuating too…

In the last 2 years we have become accustomed to rolling blackouts, loss of internet, preemptive and evacuation alerts. For us it’s fire. Other places there are floods, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes…even war. Uncertainty feels more and more familiar.

I wondered how my life would change if I had no home to come back to. I mentally inventoried what I was leaving behind vs. what I had thought to bring, wondering if I would feel I made the right choices. I wondered how it would affect my kids who are barely out of the house. Would it even make sense for me to stay in the same town—and what if there was a town to come back to? Where would I go? What would I do? How would my life change?

The not knowing was the hardest part. But I was safe, my kids were safe, and everything else was either replaceable or non-essential for my future happiness. Just as I got on the highway, a full 2 hours after leaving my front door, I came up with my Plan B. Not a plan B for where I was going, but a plan B for my life!

It was like a huge weight had been lifted. Suddenly I felt completely unattached to whether or not I had a home to come back to. My Plan B felt like an exciting adventure that I was almost hoping for.

On the morning of the 2nd day of the evacuation it looked certain that the entire town would be lost starting with the neighborhood I live in. An unbelievably heroic and collaborative effort of firefighters from all over California, other states, and even countries, saved Windsor CA. The video footage from my neighborhood was surreal. There were fire trucks and crews in nearly every driveway, defending each house, tree, and fence, making sure it did not get out of control and consume the rest of the town. I still have a few burn spots in my back yard reminding me of just how close it came.

In the end I was relieved to have a home to come back to after the 6-day evacuation. It took a few days for things to get back to relative normal, and I have to admit that I had more than a twinge of regret that I wouldn’t be free to strike off on a new adventure—and that I would still have to clean out my garage at some point!

Last time it was fire. This time it is a global pandemic. Last time it was Northern CA. This time it is nearly the whole globe. For the past 44 days I have been stuck at home in “social isolation,” but at least this time I have the comforts of electricity, internet, and my own bed instead of weathering it elsewhere…

One thing that’s becoming abundantly clear is that It’s not a matter of what happens to us, or what life throws at us, but how prepared we are to deal with whatever comes that matters most. Resilience; the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness, is the necessity of our times.

We can have resilience on many levels: In our overall health; body, cells, and organs; in our mind, emotions and coping skills, in our families, relationships, neighborhoods and communities; in our work, finances, and living situations… The more we consider all of the ways we can be resilient, the more resilient we become. The more prepared we are for whatever comes, the less upsetting and disruptive it will be.

I think we’re all on an adventure of resilience whether we call it that or not. But let’s call it out—and become more resilient together.

Please join me for the FREE 7-day Resiliency Lifestyle Summit: Expert Strategies For Staying Healthy In Modern Times. April 28 – May 4th.