In my 24 years of living in Florida, last Wednesday night was the scariest weather episode. Yet here I am back at another blog post, less than a week after Hurricane Milton ravaged not only my beloved Tampa Bay area but much, much more of the Sunshine State.
It’s tough to have to “move on,” or get back to work, after you’ve been so close to something so devastating.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not only thankful for having come through it but I do realize how fortunate I am to have “only” been without power and internet for 19 hours. Heck, last night after 8pm a client was texting me saying that she was still without power all this time. And just under 72 hours ago, police emergency rescue teams were putting down boats to go in and get people stranded in their homes due to rising flood waters – less than a mile from my house!
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But the bill collectors don’t stop asking for payment. And business doesn’t stop for those unaffected. So as much as I did notice this whole event honestly taking an emotional toll on me, I have to be back at my desk trying to return to “normal.”
Many local performers have lost work because of Hurricane Helene, which had hit just under two weeks earlier. (If the touristy beach bars are closed due to flooding, that not only puts bartenders and servers and cooks out of work, but, the guys and gals who provide live music too.) Surely, they are having to try to find ways to make up for the lost income. So here I am hoping that writing this and doing work for my clients will help me block out visions of rising inland rivers, closed roads, fallen trees (as shown in the photo above that I took), and cars in lines that stretch down the street waiting for fuel at stations that actually have gas.
Reflecting on the fact that people hundreds or thousands of miles away might have remarked, “Oh, a hurricane in Florida? Yeah, I think I might’ve heard something about that,” I wrote in a social media post that the lesson here needs to be that stopping to recognize the way it is gravely impacting people’s lives is important reflection.
It’s certainly not lost on me that the hurricane was hitting Wednesday night into Thursday morning and the latter having been World Mental Health Day.
In our short attention span, fast food, multi-tasking society, things move at a rapid pace. I always say that it’s so sad when someone dies and the survivor has all kinds of love and support around them in the immediate term, but then it goes away. Similarly, while Hurricane Milton has run its course, the outreach to people who went through it shouldn’t disappear too.
Check on people. Yes, I was touched by folks who were contacting me before, during, and/or after the storm. But I was texting people who I knew might be in jeopardy also. But now that it’s gone, check on people anyway. A social media post attributed to Meteorologist Craig Setzer said, “Hurricane fatigue is a real thing. After a significant hurricane event, many people who are no longer running on adrenaline will crash – both physical (sic) and emotionally. And it often doesn’t happen right away, but sometimes weeks or months afterwards. You are not alone feeling this way, and it’s very normal.”
At the same time, I’m here to tell you firsthand that at some point it does get exhausting just talking about it ad nauseum. There doesn’t have to be an entire post-game show-type conversation about it because that’s going to send us spiraling back into bad memories.
Just let someone know you were thinking of them and understand that we are trying to re-enter society as if it was, say, a month ago. Heck, buy a virtual coffee just as a pick-me-up. Or if there’s someone local, take him or her out to lunch to help break the cabin fever.
Business won’t wait so those of us who can are physically back on the job.
For twenty years I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Let’s get on a short call together so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.