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You are either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis or headed for a crisis.” Andy Andrews
That quote aptly describes life in South West Florida this past week. Last summer, we got our first brush with the Florida hurricane season and it left with a whimper. We were relatively unimpressed by the impact. After days of media hysteria, we were left with a two-foot piece of a palm tree as the only remnant of the storm.
After a mild hurricane season this year, it was easy to let our guard down and convince ourselves that it’s all just overblown hype. So when we got warning that Hurricane Ian was forming about a week before landfall, we paid attention but didn’t stress. It was a few days prior to landfall when it started feeling serious. Ian was supposed to hit northern Florida, near the panhandle. Later that day, it was projected further south near Gainesville. Later that day, the path shifted even more south, with Tampa Bay right in line with the eye of the storm. We live in Bradenton, forty-five minutes south of Tampa.
At this point, we were essentially in the line of fire. Now, we don’t live on the beach- we are a good forty-minute drive to Anna Maria Island- and our neighborhood has had no real hurricane impact in the past. But we awoke the next morning with the new notifications- it was now projected to have a direct hit in Bradenton.
With little time to prepare, we- along with our neighbors- did our best. Some put up storm shutters, many did not. All household items were moved inside so they wouldn’t become projectiles into someone’s lanai, window or car.
Ian arrived early Wednesday morning. I slept on the couch just in case there was heavy winds and damage right away. Ian decided to spend the day with us. Rain and heavy winds pounded the house from the pre-dawn hours until well after we went to sleep. When we awoke Thursday morning after the storm finally passed, we assessed damage with our neighbors while sharing coffee, generators and extension chords. Most of the homes had lost power. But as far as we could see, no big damage was done.
Forty miles south in North Port, a hundred miles south in Ft. Myers Beach and in many areas south of us, the story was dramatically different. If you have looked at your phone or watched the news, I don’t need to waste your time describing the destruction that has taken place there.
Within just a few days, our entire community was either headed for a crisis, were directly in a crisis or coming out of a crisis.
It left some devastated. It left others shaken up. It left so many grateful that it wasn’t them. But it could have been any of us- and that fact is what’s so sobering all around the gulf coast this week.
But what it has everyone feeling is aware.
Unfortunately, it takes a borderline Category Five hurricane to get everyone’s attention.
But life is often not that direct or clear. With a deadly hurricane, we can see the radar. We have professionals tracking each move. We have history- past events to point back to, homes and structures built stronger because of past destruction, and infrastructure like underground power lines to reduce damage going forward.
But with our careers, we often don’t have those advantages. We’re on our own- lone wolves fending for ourselves, attempting to figure it all out. It’s easy not to trust others because of the fear of being taken advantage of. Often, we haven’t been in it long enough to be able to read the radar of what danger is approaching.
The power of experience- and being surrounded by a community filled with wisdom and care- is being able to navigate all three of these areas. Because we are always in one of them.
Right now, there are people in Ft. Meyers, Cape Coral, Arcadia and North Port, who are in a full-blown crisis. When you are in it, it’s easy to feel powerless. You no longer have the control that you had just a few days earlier. To have the wisdom to know how to handle it, the patience to keep from panicking and the community to do for you what you can’t for yourself is what takes us from being in a crisis to coming out of a crisis.
Coming out of a crisis requires a different set of skills. It requires the ability to calmly assess what just happened, how to avoid that pain in the future and how to either build again or reinvent what you were already doing. Logic, creativity and the ability to audit your situation clearly are invaluable when coming out of a crisis. As emotional as being in a crisis is, coming out of a crisis is often when people make emotional, life-altering decisions. Tread lightly on making big decisions during these times.
The most unexpected of the three is when we are headed for a crisis. Because, most often, we don’t know there is a crisis ahead. I have a friend that is so positive, that even when he was being fired from his job, it didn’t process until deep into the conversation. He laughs in embarrassment when he tells the story because not only was the storm upon him, but the roof of his home was ripped off before he even realized there was a storm.
That’s why this one, as crazy as it sounds, can be the most dangerous. It’s the hits that come unexpectedly that hurt way more than the ones that we can prepare for when we see them coming. So if you aren’t in a crisis or coming out of one, you are most likely headed towards one.
The beauty of knowing that is that you can prepare. Do you need to give a little more love to your clients because you’ve been distracted? That might prevent future damage. Even though things seem to be going well, do you need to step it up with your offers like you used to do when you were more challenged? Has being away from a crisis for so long actually made you too comfortable? Complacency is the biggest threat to the comfortable.
So, whichever one of these you are in- there is hope and there are options. Each one presents its own set of challenges. But knowing the radar, knowing what’s coming and how to respond will save tons of pain, uncertainty and heartache.
-Vincent
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