Well, here we go again!  Another hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico headed right my way!

I had just posted an article on how to handle stressful situations - like hurricanes, for example - right after Hurricane Gustav brushed by 2 weeks ago.  Now Hurricane Ike looks like it’s going to hit Houston this weekend.

What to do?  What to do? What to do? First, take a deep breath.  (you might also ask yourself why you choose to live in the Gulf Coast - but that’s a different story! <grin>)

Like I said, first take a deep breath.  Understand that you control how you will respond to stressful situations. If you feel that little twinge of panic deep in the pit of your stomach, take a deep breath and regain control.  No matter what happens out in the world, you control how you will react.  You control how you will feel.  You control what you will think.

It’s a proven fact that during any kind of disaster or emergency situation, more people die or get hurt because of panic than do from the actual disaster.  Look at any fire in a crowded theater, for example.  Usually, 3 or 4 people burn to death or die from smoke inhalation but 30 or 40 people get hurt or crushed to death in the wild panic to get out the door.

Most people living in the Houston area are familiar with the concept of “shelter in place.”  This means that many times, during a natural disaster like a hurricane or tornado, you are actually safer staying where you are than getting out in the open on the highway.  Witness the city-wide evacuation for Hurricane Rita three years ago.  Traffic was tied up for a day and a half as everyone panicked and tried to get on the road all at the same time (it took one person I know more than 20 hours to make what is normally a 5 hour trip to Dallas).  More than 20 people died on the highway as a result of the evacuation.  However, no one died as an actual result of the storm (which ended up turning north and bypassing Houston anyway).

What’s my point? It’s this:  during any kind of dangerous situation when fear begins to swell up inside of you and you get the natural inclination to panic, pause for a moment.  Take a deep breath and regain control.  Only then will you be able to make a clear and rational decision on how to best respond. It could make the difference between surviving the situation or making the situation worse.

Keep me in mind as I “hunker down” this weekend and ride out the storm!

Hiram
The Balanced Health Guy

Technorati Tags: hurricane, survival, panic, stress, ike, storm, control

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