Better days ahead

MANY people who are reading this are recovering from indescribable tragedy as a result of the “once in 100 year” rain event in Northern/ Central Queensland.

Like many, I have been aghast at the images coming out of this region. What do I say to these people?

After working with communities that have experienced drought, floods, earthquakes, social unrest, industry reconstruction and other tragedies and challenges, I know they will rise up. They will, however, go on a journey on the way.

Things will be better, then worse and then better.

After tragedy comes frenetic activity to fix things up.

We must get on with the “doing” – get the infrastructure back up; deal with things that are broken or badly hurt; do the tough stuff that is required to keep things moving or at least to get back to some form of balance.

In this period, we are distracted by the doing. The days move fast, decisions are made, actions taken, and we are distracted by activity.

During this stage, keep yourself, your family and your mates safe. Remember the basics – get some sleep or at least rest, drink plenty of water, avoid reliance on alcohol or other addictive substances.

Once the frenetic activity stage has died down, things will get worse. Probably in six to eight weeks’ time it hits you.

You have a “what the…?” moment and the memories come back to you. You re-live the experience, the shock, and reality catches up with you.

You may experience an extreme sense of tiredness – I suspect because during the adrenalin rush of the frenetic phase, emotions are suppressed. Suppressing emotions takes a lot of mental effort, hence the exhaustion once the adrenalin has faded and emotions come crashing in.

All those hopes and dreams, everything you had planned for and worked so hard for, are gone, or at least severely dented

During this stage, it is critical that you really watch your self-talk.

What are your thoughts? Hopeful? Despairing?

Through it all – reach out to people to talk things through. Talk with your family, friends, and business, financial and spiritual advisors.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, break your problems down – start where you can have most influence.

Focus on today without losing sight of your bigger picture.

Stay off social media as it can be distracting and can create a false picture of how good other people’s worlds are, making you feel stuck.

Again, remember the basics – sleep, nutrition, reach out and do.

Then as things move on and you can see some return from your frenetic activity stage – things get better.

Life starts returning to “normal” and while you are aware of the enormity of the challenge facing you, you start to feel somewhat more in control.

Start working on a gratitude mindset. Check on your family, friends and community.

You are going to be OK. You are going to rise up.