Here we are, 6 months later. I find myself reflecting on the whole experience.
The Joy of Being Powerless
Hurricane Helene swept thru our area, and left with our power.
Hurricane Helene struck, and struck hard. We were fortunate, as it didn’t hit us too bad. Compared to how it absolutely devastated western North Carolina, I feel we were lucky. 1 full week of no power or internet, 5 trees down, siding ripped off the side of the house, part of our fence toppled, broke our septic system, and ended up needing a new roof.
The 1 week without power was difficult at times. All food in the fridge and freezer were lost. By the second day, the stores looked like they were looted by crazed raccoons. Charcoal quickly became scarce. Thankfully I had a bag of charcoal sitting in the garage so we could cook meals. Powering devices was challenging. By the third day, I started not caring about getting news of the outside world. That leads to:
There were some good things I didn’t anticipate though.
Due to no one having power for several hundred square miles, the night sky was glorious! I could actually see the milky way with the naked eye! My son and I spent almost 30 minutes outside just staring at the night sky.
Without the draw of the glowing boob tube pulling my eyeballs, I had time to read. I read the book Atomic Habits. I highly recommend it! Also being detached from social media was a welcomed event. My stress levels went down. I no longer had that toxic light burning into my soul. I felt better….spiritually….mentally.
The greatest silver lining I found was a sense of community! Kids were out riding bikes in the street. This coming Saturday, go out and look around. Where are all the kids playing outside? They are not. They are inside the house staring at a screen. Kids no longer have boredom to contend with. Experts say there is a problem regarding kids not being bored. Boredom leads to creativity and playfulness and socialization. It doesn’t happen like that anymore. Neighbors were doing evening walks with the whole family. I have lived on this street for almost 10 years. I met neighbors I’d never seen before. Everyone was unplugged and socializing in the street.
Several months later, and things have returned to current day normal. The ease of picking up my phone, my tablet, or watching tv troubles me. I feel like some of us had a chance to learn a very important lesson about stress, community, and unplugging from the constant toxicity of the internet. I write all this while typing on my computer and posting it on social media. Cruel irony. That week of no power affected me more than I have said before. I learned some things from this. What did I learn, though, and how will I work those lessons into my life? We’ll see…