Happy National Preparedness Month!

September is National Preparedness Month. As schools get back in session and life calms down a bit (right!), you're encouraged to take time to make or update your plans for staying resilient in the face of a disaster.

In case you think it can't happen to you, it seems like every part of the country is recovering from some disaster these days, lots of floods, in particular. Locally, we've seen areas that "never" flood under more water than the residents of those areas could have imagined. Years of memories washed away in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, neighbors are stepping up to help with everything from mucking out to a hot meal to a place to sleep while the clean up and rebuilding goes on. And fortunately, for us, the area impacted is small and the willing help is more than enough. It isn't always that way. We aren't Louisiana or West Virginia. At least not this time.

Do you have a plan in place? A central person--out of town--to call to check in if you're separated from your family? Important papers in the cloud? A change of clothes in the trunk? Food and water and necessary medications ready to grab and go? Have you thought about what you need, and will you have it when you need it?

Ready.gov has lots of resources to help you put a plan together. Check it out today!

Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls

Resilience includes using the skills of our past, as well as eating real foods without all the preservatives that can survive the zombie apocalypse. This tribute to my grandmother's rolls is a fairly easy step. As my uncle said in his eulogy of her "no one could bake like this woman." Indeed. But we can all try our best for a simple resilience!

My grandmother made the most delicious dinner rolls. Soft and buttery, cloverleaf-shaped, melt-in-your-mouth incredible. I suspect there was lard involved. I have a lot of her recipes, but not this one. Not to mention Thanksgiving Day is a bit busy for homemade bread. But, I devised a bread machine version that honors her recipe without having to get up at 4 a.m. I miss my grandmother, especially when I'm baking, but this helps me remember her and keep her close at the holidays. 

Almost Gramma Cordy's Dinner Rolls

• 1 c water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbls butter
• 1 egg
• 3-1/4 c bread flour
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 Tbls bread machine yeast

1. Place all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Select sweet dough cycle (or just dough cycle).
2. Grease muffin tins generously with butter to make 18 rolls. 
3. When the dough cycle is complete, remove the dough to a plate or cutting board dusted with just a bit of flour so it doesn't stick. Divide dough into 18 pieces to make plain round rolls or further divide into 54 pieces to make cloverleaf rolls. Place dough pieces into prepared muffin tin cups. Cover with clean, dry dish towels and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise 30-40 minutes until doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F. 
4. Uncover. Brush roll tops with melted butter. 
5. Bake 12 minutes, until golden brown. (Ideally, the rolls can bake while the turkey is resting, but my timing is rarely that good.)
6. Serve with more butter. (Also good torn apart, slathered with real mayonnaise, with a slice of turkey and maybe a dab of cranberry sauce on each piece the next day.)

Why Do I Have to Do This?

I was reminded the other day while listening to a friend complain (mildly) about having to watch a training video about an active shooter situation and then take a quiz. It never ceases to amaze and disappoint me to hear this kind of thing. Why wouldn't you want to build your knowledge of what kinds of behaviors might save your life in an emergency? Do you really think nothing bad is ever going to happen to you? It's a 6-minute video, for Pete's sake.

Meanwhile, I've sat in training sessions where people spend the whole time on their smart phone (you do NOT want these people on your team for the exercises or probably in a real world emergency either) or they just leave at the first break. Sometimes they are unhappy that they've been "volun-told" to go to the training. Instead of taking the opportunity to learn something and possibly gain some appreciation from the boss and coworkers by bringing back some valuable information, they take a spot in the limited openings for the training and annoy the people who are there to learn.

Personally, I like to learn. I find most of the training sessions I attend to be pretty informative and often entertaining -- I know the instructors do their best to make them so, they appreciate the time and energy that most of the attendees are putting in, too.

If you can fit this kind of training into your schedule, I highly recommend it. But, I get that not everybody has all day (or three days!) to participate in a specialized emergency preparedness or response training. Simple Resilience can help by tailoring a program just for you and your team, focusing on the emergencies you are most likely to face and simple checklists for preparation and response. We can put together a few hours or a whole day, depending on what you need. Contact us for more information.

And while you're thinking about it, take six minutes and
Click here to watch the Run Hide Fight video

Anonymity on the Internet

Ashley and Christopher

Resilience is about bouncing back. It's also about not letting things tear you down. Unfortunately, tearing others down seems to have become something of a sport lately, especially on so called "social" media. People hide behind the partial anonymity of their avatars and attack people they don't know in the real world. I saw this story about a young couple who posted a cute and funny photo of themselves after she caught the bouquet at a wedding. Instead of just enjoying her happy face and his mock-panic, some people chose to make fun of his appearance and question her choice of boyfriend. Seriously?

As the song says "haters gonna hate."* But what's the point in this case? Or in so many similar examples happening every day. Does picking on someone on the Internet make these mean people feel better about themselves? I suspect it just gets them some laughs from their friends.

The young woman in the picture responded brilliantly, though, with good humor and forgiveness. That's the resilient response.

If someone attacks you anonymously, it's less about you than it is about them. So, Shake it Off!*

And if you feel like attacking someone else this way, think twice, please. Not only would you not want someone to do it to you (or your partner or your child or your best friend), you never know how much damage you might do to a fragile soul.

On the other hand, your kind words or actions, shared anonymously or not, can make someone else's day or heal this kind of damage from some mean person. Being a positive voice in the social media world can help build a stronger, more resilient community. Give it a try today!


Read the couple's story - click here.

*And if you want to hear Taylor sing it, click here.

It's All in How You React

I don't know that I would have handled this situation anywhere near as well as this mother did! When she found these stickers on her car commenting on her "Autistic Child" informational placard, she could have responded in anger. Or by crumpling in a heap.

These placards provide important information for first responders in case of an accident, especially for those with limited experience dealing with kids on the autism spectrum. Clearly, whoever placed these stickers (spelling issues aside), doesn't know or care what challenges autism can pose. I know there are people who don't believe that autism is a real thing (I know some of them), and I also know it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between a child on the autism spectrum and a child with neurotypical discipline problems, but anonymously putting mean-spirited comments on someone's car is cowardly and juvenile. (I mean really, whatever happened to people dropping off a pie at the new neighbor's house?)

Believe me, nobody chooses an autism spectrum disorder for her child! I could go on and on, but for now suffice it to say, take the worry of the parent of a neurotypical child and multiply it by a bazillion. The parent of a child on the autism spectrum, especially a nonverbal one and/or one prone to wandering, is always on alert. Not to mention having to deal with this kind of "welcome."

Back to the mom in the story. She went around her new neighborhood trying to find out who did this, to help explain the reality of what autism means for her and her child. Not surprisingly, no one confessed to placing the stickers, but she still took the opportunity to educate her new neighbors on autism. Good for her!

We all face situations like this, actions based in ignorance or misunderstanding. Counting to 10 (or 100) and reacting with patience and poise is the resilient response. Maybe you make a new friend or customer, or maybe you just increase understanding. Either way, you've shown you're a class act.

for more, here's the news story and video

Take a Chance

Don't be so scared of changing
And rearranging yourself
It's time for jumping down from the shelf
A little bit

(from Georgy Girl, by Tom Springfield & Jim Dale)

Getting stuck in a rut is the opposite of resilience. Being open to new opportunities, ways of doing things, systems, programs, etc. is part of bouncing back when old ways just aren't cutting it. (Of course, sometimes older ways become new again, I'm talking about keeping all options open.)

Be Kind - It's Free!

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Philo

A simple truth for living a resilient life! Being nice can actually be good for you--when you make someone else feel good, you feel it, too. The simple act of sharing a smile can ease your own stress. 

You know what your struggles and stresses are--the point here is you are not alone! You also know what a little kindness means to you--again, you are not alone. And many kind acts cost you nothing. A smile, a kind word, holding a door open. Some actions do cost you, but very little. Let the person with one item go ahead of you in the checkout line, let that car merge in front of you, take an extra moment to pay a compliment. 

Of course, if you can afford the time or money for more extravagant acts of kindness, by all means do some!

For more, check out this article "Cool to be Kind."