The Plan to Simplify - Phase 3

With the completion of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of my Plan With a Capital P, I was ready to dive into Phase 3: Emergency Preparedness.

This is one of those “adulting” check boxes that I felt needed to be done. It was prompted by someone close to me who unexpectedly found themselves in the hospital, in pain and in shock, with nothing to help them. No change of clothes. No emergency contact information. Nothing of comfort to help bring them through this event. This hard time was harder for them because they didn’t see it coming and didn’t have time to prepare. My heart went out to them. And I thought: “That could very easily happen to me or to my people. I should gather some basics together (a few toiletries, copies of our insurance info, a phone charger etc) to make a situation like that easier to get through with grace.”

As I gathered a little bag of basics for that scenario, other emergency situations started popping into my mind. Unlikely situations, sure, but not impossible.

We live in a flood zone, and the river has never breached the levee behind our house, but it’s not impossible that it could. We should be prepared to leave the house quickly in case that ever happens. I put together a water-resistant bin that we could grab and go.

Winter is rough by me also. It would be reassuring to know that if I was out driving far away from home and got into an accident or was stranded for a time, I would have what I needed to handle the situation and to be comfortable. Basic stuff like insurance info and instructions (so I didn’t have to think of what to do when I was already stressed), a list of emergency contacts, an umbrella and poncho, a headlamp, extra hat and mittens, playing cards.

Even tiny emergencies were accounted for. A few years back I’d already assembled a good first aid kit, but I hadn’t checked the contents in a while and made sure it was actually useful. So that went on the list. Replenishing the supplies, checking expiration dates, looking at what we’d used and what never gets touched.

At this point, my husband was kind of looking at me like I’d gone a bit bonkers. And I admit that tackling these phases one after another (Phase 1: Tearing apart the whole house and assessing, followed by Phase 2: Recommitting to green cleaning, and then Phase 3: Assembling emergency kits of various sorts) seemed a bit much. I’m pretty sure the word apocalyptic might have crossed his mind.

But I wasn’t done. And creating this huge plan and then knocking it out item by item, well, it felt good. And it gave me energy.

And speaking of energy, I was ready for Phase 4.