Winter Storm Reflections
I live in a state that was severely impacted by the recent North American winter storm. During this storm, myself (along with millions of others) spent days without power, running water, heat, and internet, all while under below freezing temperatures. Even now as I am writing this blog post, thousands of people in my city are still without power, nearly six days after the storm first hit.
Making it through the worst of the storm was an interesting experience. For my state in particular, we had very little infrastructure or preparedness to weather the intensity and severity of the storm (some people are describing it as the worst winter storm in decades). As a result, many people were caught off-guard and had to scramble to survive for days without adequate power, water, or food. It’s truly a heartbreaking experience to see so many stories of people struggling for basic amenities that we would normally take for granted.
For me and my family, we went about two days without power, heat, and running water. We were fortunate that we had stocked up on food beforehand, and that our power came back on during the third day of the storm, which gave us a much needed reprieve. All things considered, we were some of the luckier ones. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but we still had a roof over our heads and plenty of food and bottled water to survive. Not everyone could say the same.
During those two days spent in the darkness without lights, huddled under blankets in four layers of clothing to stay warm, I did some self-reflection. It may seem strange to be writing this now, but during (and after) the storm, I only felt an immense sense of gratitude for everything that I had. Yes, we were struggling, and it was a difficult and trying experience - but in the grand scheme of things, my family and I were truly fortunate. We (my wife and I) had a roof over our heads and a house for shelter. None of our water pipes burst. We had food and bottled water to live off of. The gas lines still worked, so we were able to light the fireplace to stay somewhat warm. And most importantly - we had each other. Even though we were struggling, I could only feel truly grateful for everything that we had, because I knew that many others were (and still are) suffering without even some of these basic things to help them through the winter storm.
I write about practicing gratitude a lot on my blog, but my experience living through the winter storm made me truly appreciate all the small things in life that I would normally take for granted. Things like running water and electricity seem like very basic amenities until they are abruptly taken away from you. Spending two days without power or internet really taught me more about mindfulness - without smart phones, televisions, and computers to distract us, my wife and I really spent two whole days focusing solely on each other - talking and listening, playing board games and card games together instead of our usual routine of sitting on the couch and browsing on our phones separately, and truly just living in the present moment without thinking about work deadlines or errands to run.
And finally, the storm was an exercise in acceptance. We truly had no idea when the power, water, or heat would come back on. Cell service was extremely poor, so contacting friends and family was quite difficult. There was a lot of uncertainty during the initial stages of the storm - are our friends and family doing alright? Do we have enough food and water to last if the power stays out for three, four, or even five days? Will our water pipes burst and flood the living room? Dealing with all these uncertainties, especially when considering the other impacts of the storm, was quite stressful - but it helped me to reflect upon the idea of acceptance, and the fact that there is no point in worrying about things we can’t control. Ultimately, I couldn’t control how soon the power would return, so what was the point in stressing over that? I could control something like preventing the water pipes from bursting - by shutting off our water main and draining the residual water from our pipes. Acting on the things which I could control, and accepting the things which I couldn’t, was a helpful exercise to go through and helped me to remain much calmer and less anxious during the storm.
We still have a couple days of below-freezing temperatures projected, but for now our power, heat, and water have been fully restored, so I am cautiously optimistic that we’ve made it through the worst of the storm. All things considered, although it was an unpleasant experience and a stressful time, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to practice gratitude, mindfulness, and acceptance during the storm, and I believe the techniques that I’ve learned during my OCD recovery really helped me to stay grounded and focused during such a stressful time. That’s why I believe it is so important to really practice ERP and ACT and embed the techniques and mindsets taught in those frameworks into your mentality. Yes, ERP and ACT will help you recover from OCD, but more importantly, by fundamentally changing your behavioral mindset, these cognitive behavioral frameworks will give you the skills, knowledge, and mindset that you need to handle any adversity or stressful event that pops up in your life. In that respect, I believe that everyone (not just OCD sufferers) can really benefit from the tenets of mindfulness and acceptance that are taught in ERP/ACT, because they are applicable to almost any situation you may encounter in life.
With all that being said - if you are like me and live in one of the states which has been impacted severely by the winter storm, I hope you are staying safe and warm and that the worst is behind us. I know it can be difficult to find the silver lining in situations like this, but remember to try and practice gratitude for even the smallest things, and to use mindfulness and acceptance as techniques to help get you through stressful situations like this.
Stay safe out there!
Eric