Wednesday, May 1, 2013

May 1st, 2013 – Wednesday – Disaster Necessities Opinion


May has started!  It’s a cold day here in Utah, but spring is coming, and that means that Disaster Necessity Survival Emergency Preparedness slows down. Unless there is something big in the news, a crisis, most people slow their prep down in the spring and summer.  I think this is normal.  Summer is often a busy time, when we are out and about, and it also is a nice time, the weather is better, and life just seems to go by a bit more smoothly for most of us.

But it isn’t all spring and summer in reality.  We got news recently that job creation was really slow…  and that means our economic recovery is really not moving at the speed we had all hoped.  Apparently private jobs have fallen for the fifth month in a row.   In a time when our government is getting bigger and our private sector smaller… what do we do?

We can buy food storage… (we have a new Calorie Food Energy Bar page up!) but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

I know a lot of you are concerned about the current political situation over the last few years.  Who wouldn’t be?  On either side of the aisle, no one seems happy.  I think the lesson in all this is that in many ways, we don’t have much control.  We are 1 in 300 million.  That is a very small percentage.  And yes, we can join large groups, and work really hard for change… but a lot of us have families, have jobs, health problems.  What do you do in such a big world with such huge problems?

I think we have to take care of our families and ourselves.  We have to exercise, eat right, and keep our minds sharp.  Spend quality time resting, spend quality time taking it easy.  We are so tempted to get emotional upset during these times when we feel so powerless.

The message I’m sending out to you, and I would love to hear your feedback is simple: You have to take care of yourself.  Your family.  Your small local community.  The big picture is overwhelming when you look at it.  Staring up at the night sky, you see so many stars, feel so insignificant… it’s a humbling feeling.  Well…looking at our federal government, you feel the same way.  It’s humbling.  The government is huge, and both sides of the aisle are not doing much to get it under control.  And you and I and our kids and our grandkids are the ones who are going to pay for it.

So that’s why I say again, take care of yourself.  I have a saying I remind my kids, and if you know me, you’ve heard me say it before:  In 100 years… I’ll be dead.  And none of this will matter.  I say that to keep things in perspective.  My life is small, humble, and insignificant in many ways.  By accepting that, I am free of huge expectations and I instead focus on loving my family, and creating a small bit of art for them and me.  In a time when everything is so big… so scary… my advice is to take a deep breath, relax, and avoid the temptation to get too worked up over it all… enjoy this day that you have and relax into it.  Your gifts and offerings as a human will come through in small but beautiful ways if you free of the emotional grasp of big government economic fears.

Spring is here.  Summer is coming. Enjoy it with all your heart.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Search This Blog