Caught Sleeping

I had a truly "eye-opening" experience yesterday morning. The smoke alarm went off at 2:30 am and scared us into a frantic panic. We jumped out of bed like popcorn running around the entire house checking for fire. I was in a deep sleep so my eyes were not adjusted to the dark and I thought I was seeing smoke. My wife told the kids to slip some shoes on and get outside. After a sprint through the entire interior of the house, I ascertained that it was a false alarm and we all returned to bed.

However, before I fell back to sleep I was pondering the lesson in what had just happened. The lesson was that we were not prepared in the case that it was a real fire. We had no official escape route or alternate plan. We had shoes and other items in the floor that we tripped on as we ran to the kids bedrooms. We have dual-sided key deadbolts on the doors and the key is not near them. We didn’t have all of our important paperwork together in a sealed fire/waterproof safe. And evidently we haven’t been checking and testing the smoke detectors on a regular basis. Any of the above could have spelled disaster and unnecessary headache in the aftermath due to a lack of planning and preparation.

I let my mind wander to other areas of my life where preparation may be lacking or non-existent. You should do the same. When was the last time you reviewed your emergency escape plan? When was the last time you reviewed your insurance policies to ensure that you have adequate coverage? As your life changes, your insurance needs may change as well. There are so many other areas of our lives where we all are vastly under-prepared for the unexpected.

Coincidentally, while in the middle of writing this post, we experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia. Everyone was running around wondering about the right thing to do. Some got under their desks, some went to an interior room, and others ran outside as the managers advised. It caught us completely off guard and by being unprepared we had no clue what to do.

We are ultimately responsible for everything that happens to us in our lives. We can’t predict or prevent everything, but being prepared can greatly reduce, stress, injury, casualties, and recovery time. Plan, prepare, and prevail.

-- Wood Butler, Jr.

   

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