If you were sailing along in a beautiful yacht laughing and enjoying the ride when suddenly a big unexpected storm hits and over turns the very thing you were just standing enjoying yourself on, what would your immediate response be?
Shock
Bleep
Oh God
What the hell
Bleep
Oh no
Numb
Numb
Numb
Shock
or
Oh dang my yacht!!!
WTH
Stupid bleep bleep bleep harbour master said it was going to be CLEAR WEATHER
I am going to crucify that bleeper
He will NEVER find work again and wait till he gets the insurance bill!
Stupid bleeper!
MY YACHT!
or
SHARKS???
Oh God
SHARKS
What was that???
Oh shit oh shit
I’m a goner
They’re going to rip me to shreds
I’m dead meat
Oh God
Oh God
Oh God
or
OK
*breathe*
Access the situation
Stormy seas
Yacht is overturned
Either get my butt under neath and climb on a ledge away from the things with sharp teeth, be warmer and out of the water or climb on the top and hold on so that if people look for me they can see me.
*breathe*
Pro’s and con’s
Swim under yacht and turn on the SOS equipment, try find something dry and climb on ledge out of the water.
OK
*breathe*
How would you respond?
When something happens that we didn’t expect be it traumatic or just emotionally painful we have a variety of responses, some not as good as others.
Are any of the above more right or wrong?
As we go through life we can’t run from the shocks that come at us nor can we ever know how to react in all of them no matter who we are or what life experience we have. All we can do is react in that moment the best we can, normally by instinct alone. Life is such that we can’t plan for every single thing that comes our way perhaps instead we can teach ourselves to breathe, stop and assess the situations we find ourselves in and then breathe some more.
Sometimes things aren’t as we immediately thought they were to be
Sometimes there are more options available that will help you out of the dark hole you find yourself in
Sometimes there is land just on the other side of the overturned yacht close enough to swim to
Sometimes when you turn around you will find that you aren’t treading water that in fact someone is there holding you up
Sometimes there are other survivors who are learning as you are and able to help you overturn that yacht
Sometimes good can come from bad in the form of opportunities of survival
Sometimes you are stronger than you think
Guaranteed the most sane and the one that survived that yacht overturning was the one that took a moment while floating in stormy seas and assessed the situation, saw the reality and figured out a way to best survive.
Breathe
The best survival tactic is the pause button, it can save your life both figuratively and in reality.
thatdudeyouknow
•15 years ago
Thing is, no one can know how one would react in any unexpected situation before it happens. That’s why you can’t really judge people on their reactions in those situations either. We all know what the best thing to do is, when we look at it from a distance. Question is if you remember to put it into practice when it’s needed.
froggywoogie
•15 years ago
It happened to me once. Not on a yacht but with a very similar boat as the one on the picture. The sea was quite the same as the pic as well.
In two years I had been working on that floating thing, never any incident had happened, until that very stormy and dark day when a wave hit the boat once, right on the left side (port side for you sailors). I saw it coming, it was HUGE. The floating thing decided it was fun to lie down on its right side (star board for you sailors) then all happy with itself, stood up again. Then I saw a second HUGE wave coming, I thought ‘oh no, I can’t be true, it must be a bad dream, well I wish it was and I’m going to wake up”. Another loud bang then down again on the side and standing up again…. Phewwww! Yeah, that’s what I thought… Wait, there’s a third one, yes a HUUUUGE one! Bang! Oh ok it’s no fun anymore please stop now shit. The happy boat stood up for the third time. Good girl.
No there wasn’t any fourth one, but bloody hell that was one hack of a moment!
That’s exactly how I was feeling, except I was frightened as a bonus.
cordieb
•15 years ago
Breath Baby Breath!!! In the many storms of life, it is essential that we take a deep breath. . . less we may end up not breathing at all!
Great article Sis! Thanks for the most visionary reminder! I think I may make Breath Baby Breath my new motto for 09!
Joy
•15 years ago
We can’t plan for these kinds of things because that’s what they are, accidents or moments of shock. I hate them and hate when it happens but cordieb is right, breath. Breath, breath and breath.
Sue
•15 years ago
Yes, breathe, breathe, breathe. I would never know how I would react b/c I would never be on that boat in the middle of the sea!!!! Drowning is my biggest fear and I hate sometimes going out on our little lakes!
froggywoogie
•15 years ago
Sanity, I hope you’ll forgive me for posting this as a comment here but I thought it would be nice for the people to go and visit Lisa’s page about the beginning of the end to her journey and comfort her, thanks.
Here is the link
http://clusterfook.com/2009/01/13/hospice/#comments