Handling Crises Better - Because More Are Coming
We Need To Get Good At Navigating Emergencies. This Post Is A Start.
We’re Dealing With Multiple Unfolding Emergencies
I started a post here on eclipse day in the US (April 8) with the photo above and a few thoughts but never sent it. I’m giving it another go today, but this time with the idea that we have to be able to navigate multiple, ongoing crises in this era and in this country so maybe we should spend more time talking about how to do that well. This post is a start.
That day — eclipse day — seems like forever ago. I was sitting in the waiting area outside an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Des Moines, doing what lots of people do outside ICUs: hoping the person we were there for would somehow take a turn for the better. The sounds of a busy city hospital were all around me — especially on the intercom. “Bzzzzzzt! Trauma team to emergency room. Bzzzzzzt!” More people in crisis. That’s what hospitals do, but the ongoing nature of it is noticeable and unsettling when it’s not your normal environment.
Only ongoing crisis is our normal environment — even though it seems we’re trying to act like it’s not.
I know I’m preaching to the choir, here, but we’re in a whole series of ongoing emergencies.
We would do well to act more like it — to take care of ourselves, to take action, and to prioritize like as if we’re in a set of extended emergencies… because we actually are.
Facing the fact that we’re in a bunch of crises is a helpful place to start. That’s a really big deal, too, because half of dealing with a disaster is coming out of the denial that YOU’RE IN A DISASTER.
Disasters, crises, and emergencies are tough to accept as they unfold because they are surreal, unimaginable, horrid, and are often changing the landscape around you even as you experience them. Denial seems easier, but it only puts off the inevitable and sometimes contributes to inaction in critical moments when emergencies are worsening.
Part of the problem up in this country right now is that so many people are going around acting like everything is normal when it’s not, because < waves arms around at everything >.
We could better deal with these emergencies if we would admit that they’re happening, for starters. Then we can use approaches and tools that can help us navigate crises and to do that well.
We’re going to need to get better at navigating the emergencies. More are coming, and the ones we’ve already got are generally intensifying.
A Crisis Sampler
We’ve got no shortage of crises, just in the US alone.
We have a convicted criminal seeking the most powerful office in the entire world, and a huge set of institutions, elected officials, media, and powerful people backing that move.
We’re watching institutions be torn apart and degraded — including schools, colleges, public health, the entire criminal justice system, the rule of law, libraries, regulatory agencies, and so on. Climate change is pushing change and disasters faster than anyone is preparing for or actively mitigating. We have a rising world population living increasingly in high hazard zones even as disasters intensify. Covid is completely rampant and our public health mechanisms and elected leadership are doing nothing about it even as its risk of disability rises steadily in our population. Bird flu is actively threatening to become another pandemic. The Middle East is way more unstable than it’s been for decades with new tragedy and risk showing up daily and with some of the players not holding back at all. There are two major wars that could escalate into world wars; both of which relate heavily to this year’s election results in the US. State legislatures are passing laws legalizing hate and intolerance. Voter suppression activity is on the rise. Voting rights and vote processing are under increasing attack. Child labor laws are being thrown out. Regulations and entire agencies designed to protect workers, consumers, clean water, and clean air are being dismantled at state and federal levels. Wealthy people and companies get richer every year as it gets harder for the rest of us to survive, eat, prosper, and flourish. People are banning books, for crying out loud, when YouTube and TikTok alone have more informative and/or dangerous information than any library could ever hold.
The lists go on. Also, I’m super fun at parties.
Americans today are like a whole population sitting in hospital waiting rooms hearing crises called out over the intercoms; fearing the worst; hoping our people are some of the ones who survive.
Hoping that we all make it.
Will we make it?
I don’t know, of course. But I do know the challenges are real.
We’ll give ourselves and our people a better chance at survival if we change our stance from being on defense, from being in overwhelm, and from being in denial about the emergencies we’re in.
We can lean forward into what’s facing us by being more proactive, more resilient, more connected, and more strategic — and by using specific tools and approaches known to help people navigate crisis.
What’s Facing Us Is Life-Threatening
Since the covid pandemic began, I’ve often said, “Try not to get dead” at the end of posts. It’s a spin on what my hotshot captain used to say before we went to a wildfire. He said without fail, “Don’t get dead.” It’s important perspective when you’re fighting fires. But it’s important perspective just living everyday life, too.
I added the “try” bit (now I say “try not to get dead”) in 2020 because surviving covid-19 was a crapshoot in the beginning; before there were vaccinations and before we knew much about it medically. The “try” bit is still relevant even aside from covid because sometimes we do need to put real effort in to not get dead but it’s never a guarantee. Like we put effort in by taking our meds. Or not driving like a maniac. Or not doing electrical work when we’re not qualified. And so on.
But not getting dead is getting increasingly challenging in this American society. It’s scary. It’s unprecedented in modern American life for most people. But it’s where we’re at.
The political and social emergencies we’re in are traumatizing because they’re life-threatening. We don’t like to admit it, but they are.
The emergencies we’re in bring the threat of political violence and terrorism.
They bring the threat of cultural violence and hate crimes.
They bring the threat of mass incarceration and mass deportations.
They bring the threat of political persecution.
They have already brought threats and damage to women’s health and lives… and they’re bringing more. This damage and harm hurts women and their entire families in all kinds of ways.
The ongoing emergencies include the ongoing, active damage to public health. Hundreds of thousands have died due to Republican actions blocking of public health measures and related individual choices people make not to protect themselves or not to seek appropriate healthcare. People continue to die and become disabled because of these continuing actions or blocks due to rampant covid-19 virus spread, being unvaccinated, not getting appropriate treatment when infected, getting exposed as we let the virus run free, being medically vulnerable, and so on.
The many emergencies we’re facing make it difficult for us to be safe at work, or to feel safe in many of the places in which we exist every day.
The emergencies we’re facing make it hard for parents to send kids to school out of fear of active shooters.
The unfolding emergencies are making it more difficult for us to breathe clean air, and to access clean water.
The unfolding emergencies are making it difficult for us to address the risks of climate change in ways that can help keep more people alive and more of the environment functioning well.
The Now-Critical Skill of Navigating Disruption
What I’m calling political and social emergencies here could also be described as big change, as disruption, as threats, as disasters, or as a great transformation. Some might call it adaptation. Others might say it’s evolution.
Doesn’t matter what we call it — much of it presents an active threat to humans and to humans’ ability to stay alive and to thrive, to prosper, and to flourish. Much of it also involves very deep stakes or very deeply-held values on either side of the political spectrum; thus deepening the level of commitment, intensity, and fight people are willing to bring to everything.
Hard to tell how it will all play out… but how smart each side plays will matter.
Are you interested in playing smarter?
Part of navigating disruption wisely and successfully is keeping your wits about you through the whole thing; even as chaos unfolds. It’s also about staying power, resilience, and strategy.
Are we ready to do all of that? In an election year when everything possible seems to be on the line? When we may often feel overwhelmed and afraid?
We’re going to handle all of this mess better if we can handle chaos and crisis better. We have a whole lot of both ahead of us, so we should get serious about handling them more effectively.
The work here at Shift the Country can help you play smarter, to be more resilient, to find more strength, and to have more staying power.
This is a long game. This nonprofit is here to help with this stuff. More on that in a minute.
Crises Wear You Out — And This Is A Long Game
I opened this post talking about spending time outside an ICU in Des Moines, hoping fiercely for conditions to turn around for a person I cared about. They didn’t, in that case. That situation ended with a “Celebration of Life” and a quiet burial in a moment of sun on a stormy day. It still takes my breath away. It is such a shock when people just stop existing when they seemed so radiant and full of life when you last saw them.
Since those moments in April I’ve now spent quality time waiting around a different ICU in a different town with a mostly-different crowd of people rooting for a different person to survive. While our group held vigil, a few individuals and then another family group moved into the waiting-room-encampment we’d set up over several days. We shifted things around for all of them to feel welcome and to have space. We talked a bit and everyone from every group made an effort to show caring and compassion toward the others. If you’re in an ICU waiting room, you’re usually there for life-and-death. There’s a shared somberness. There’s an understood urgency. There’s a sense that nothing else matters; that whatever you left behind to be here isn’t as critical or essential right now in this moment as whatever you’re here for. Or that whatever it is that you stepped away from should be able to hold steady on its own — at least for now.
Our time in the ICU waiting room saw tragedy, but it wasn’t for us. After a day or so, the other large family group got the godawful news that they would have to let their person go. No chance for survival remained. Our group was as respectful as possible as their group went through many hours of intense talks and decisions. While their group said their goodbyes and made the transition away to homes and a funeral home, our separate assembled group remained in a holding pattern waiting for changes and tests and the combined ICU healing power of time plus medicine plus technology plus nursing.
Our miracle came. This time, our person survived. I cannot even convey the joy; when you came so close to losing someone. There are no good words. Well, except for love. That’s the reason we were all there in the first place, after all. You just love your people. When they survive — well, there’s just so much emotion.
A serious crisis often comes with companion emergencies, though, and our latest crisis has been no exception. In the case of our surviving person from the ICU, the emergency continues today weeks later with several other huge related challenges. Our group of family and friends continue to navigate the challenges and to coordinate together; although in different ways now that we’re over a month in and the urgency of various aspects has shifted.
Which brings me to the other reason I share this story: crises are wearing. Ohmygoodness but they tire you out.
I hit the ground running with this latest emergency in early May and barely slept at all the first week and a half. Even as we got past the first major hurdle of survival there’s been a ton of emotional stuff, of complications, of logistical challenges, of questions, and of stress about all of it. There have been huge unknowns and things-out-of-everyone’s-control that have played into the overall situation.
We’re over a month in now and I am struggling to find the right balance between continuing to help and also recovering in various ways and also shifting my focus to other aspects of my life. Anyone so deeply involved in such a complex crisis would have similar challenges.
We didn’t evolve as humans to be in crisis all the time. It wears on us. It wears on us more when we’re in a series of crises and when they seem to never end. Which — who knows when they will actually end?
We’re in a series of ongoing and intensifying crises in this country and on this planet. None of the big ones are showing signs of de-escalation. So not only do we need to get better at managing crises, but we need to be able to handle more crises more effectively and over a longer period than what most of us have experienced in modern history — and we need to keep our wits about us while we do it. This is a long game. It’s going to go on well past the 2024 election. Are we ready? Are you?
And that, resolute readers, brings me to the point of this post.
The Point Of This Post — We Can Better Navigate Crises
In the midst of all the unfolding emergencies around us, we can do more to better navigate the unexpected. We can do more to keep our wits about us even as chaos might unfold around us. We’ll fare better through various crises if we can keep level heads and make good decisions. If we can do that we’ll be operating in smarter ways and we’ll be more effective, too. Which we need, because what’s at stake is breathtaking.
Here are key things that can help:
We have to find ways through and to keep going even when things get tough and overwhelming.
We have to do it with each other.
We have to find our own strength.
We have to remember to sleep and eat and take our meds.
We have to make money or deal with job-related things and pay bills and keep basic life and home things functioning.
We have to take care of ourselves.
We have to take breaks and time-outs.
We need to be okay with down time and convalescing or recovering even in the middle of a crisis.
We have to do things that are replenishing and good for our soul so we have the strength to keep going.
We need tools that can help us get grounded, nourished, and replenished — like good books or walks or phone calls or movies or games or whatever it is that can help us find our way through.
We have to heal and grieve and celebrate and allow the emotions as they come; whatever they are.
We have to remember to sleep and eat and take our meds (yes that one is repeated and it was done on purpose).
We have to ask for help when we need reinforcements.
We have to pay attention to ourselves and our people enough to recognize when we need reinforcements, backup, more resources, or changes in plans.
We have to keep up our boundaries.
We have to be aware of when we’re nearing our capacity so we can step back and get reinforced and rested in whatever ways we can.
We have to know when to step back or to say no so we don’t overdo it or build up resentment if we overshoot our capacity.
We have to balance helping out in the emergency with keeping up on the other things and people and needs in our lives.
This kind of a list could go on and on, but these things are good basics to start with if you’re navigating a crisis or extended emergency with any group of people.
The Basics For Handling Big Disasters Can Help Us Handle Crises, Too
I’ll add a few more things, from a life spent in big wildfire work and in big disasters…
You have to pace yourself.
It helps to know your priorities and to revisit them often, and in coordination with other people.
It helps to have a strategy and a plan when you can make one; both based on your priorities. There are lots of ways to do this, but even the most informal situations can fit into some kinds of very loose plans. A strategy is a sort of overall arc or direction that follows the priorities and creates a framework for operating within. A plan is a more specific way of implementing things from day-to-day or like for a specific event. Tactics are the specific approaches to be taken that may be part of the plan.
It helps to have a team.
If who’s on the team isn’t clear it can help to ask people who are around or who appear to be invested/involved if they’re on the team, how involved they’d like to be, and what they might be able to do. You can also think of other people who may or may not know what’s going on who are connected to the people in crisis or the specific emergency and reach out to them however you can.
Informal communication through whatever channels work for the person in question will help you and your group get the widest reach. People communicate on different platforms and in different ways. Some only do phones, some only text, some are on Facebook Messenger, some only do email, some prefer encrypted platforms like Signal, and so on.
It might help to make lists of who’s involved, how they’re involved, and how to keep in touch with them. It’s easier to have it written down and shared than to try to remember it all if things get worse or more intense.
It helps to have good communications with everyone involved. In a medical emergency, this might mean asking for phone numbers and texting or calling people who are involved in supporting the group. It might mean making some tough phone calls or having uncomfortable conversations, or asking for help. In politics and organizing, this might be talking with volunteers and keeping track of who can do what when.
Good communication also means talking clearly with everyone involved, making sure all are heard, and working together on various plans to deal with the situation.
It helps to have a way to share information with the key people who are involved and who will be making decisions. You might need a list of key decision-makers who need the most information the fastest and then a secondary list of nice-to-know folks who are being supportive in various ways but who do not need the most urgent updates.
You or others involved might need some legal, decision-making, or financial clarification as the emergency unfolds — especially if there are disagreements about decisions that might need to be made. Finding ways to get clarification and getting all available reference materials early can help. For example, if someone is in a life-and-death situation, legal documents that determine who can make decisions can be critical. In a disaster on the edge of a city, questions arise immediately about which government has jurisdiction over the incident or whether responsibility is shared; decision-making about how to respond to the emergency is structured accordingly. Legal and financial stuff matters, and it’s okay to bring it up when it might be relevant even though it’s tough and can be awkward.
It helps to be able to facilitate teamwork. That means careful conversations and communication that get input from everyone, that don’t lead to one person being “in charge,” and that account for complicated aspects of whatever’s going on. Patience, taking things slow, listening, and paying attention can help.
People being willing to be a part of the team can help. A fire chief mentor friend of mine always said, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Good advice in any crisis. The following and the getting-out-of-the-way can both be super helpful.
Flexibility helps. The most adaptable people have the best outcomes in times of crisis. For example, it’s good to have a plan… but it’s also good to be able to change the plan when the situation, resources, or risks evolve.
Following a loose process for all of this and then revisiting it and updating it frequently can help. On a wildfire, for example, there’s a new plan and tactics every 12 hours but the priorities and overall strategy tend to stay the same for days or weeks at a time; especially on very large incidents. That might be similar for a family handling an extended medical crisis.
Big emotions, powerful denial, power plays, legal complications, and money and/or estates being at risk or in contention can easily throw off any medical crisis. Same for any emergency, though.
People are complicated, and every group has challenges. In any group, there may be know-it-all people, people who dominate conversations, big-ego people, uncertain people, scared people, angry people, super quiet people, heavily emotional people, aloof people, terrible communicators, people who make assumptions, and so on. The lists of challenges are as long as the billions of people on the planet.
If you’ve got a group who are willing to work together, though, a lot of this stuff is navigable with some intention, care, and good communication — whether it’s a medical crisis, a disaster, or doing a political thing that’s sensitive, urgent, or high-stakes.
Resilience, Connection, & Community Bring It Together
Finally, resilience is critical — along with connection and community. Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” and/or to have the wherewithal or resources to effectively handle some sort of crisis.
There are a zillion types of resilience and a zillion ways to build resilience. Our work here at Shift the Country tends to focus on the connection (Thing 1) and community (Thing 2) aspects of resilience.
We will be better able to navigate what’s coming at us with more resilience, more connection, and more community.
We need deep, real, strong connections with other humans to effectively navigate crises and chaos. We’re going to need a lot more of these as things in our country and on our planet intensify.
This is why connection and community are key parts of the 5 Things in our nonprofit’s organizing work. While it didn’t get much interaction, this recent post on getting your people together like right now this week is an example.
Getting your people together as soon as possible and as often as possible is a political tool and also builds strength, resilience, and persistence. Make up reasons to get together, check these lists for ideas, or just have a potluck at a park or in someone’s yard or community room.
We’re going to need closer connections and community this year and we’re going to need them ASAP, so any gathering is a good start.
What’s Next
What’s next is that probably everything that’s happening in the US and on the planet will continue to get more complicated. Whether it’s climate change or US politics or the state of worldwide conflicts or bird flu… none of those things are showing any signs yet of de-escalation.
De-escalation would be lovely. Peace and cooperation and healthy communication and beautiful intentions would be lovely.
That’s not what we’re doing overall though right now. It’s just not.
Right now, overall we’re escalating.
Doesn’t mean we can’t work on that powerful good stuff where we are with our people, which is part of why I keep harping on getting your people together; whoever they are. When we do that, we can do connection and community in which we work on beautiful intentions and grow cooperation and fight for a different future fiercely together.
Any group anywhere can start. Start here, for example.
For me, this weekend I’m getting together with some of my people for Father’s Day. I’m also getting together with some of my people from the latest crisis we’ve been navigating. At least some of my time with that second group will be just to hang out and have dinner and do normal life stuff. We all need it. Rejuvenation is powerful.
I need it — rejuvenation. I’ve been struggling these past two weeks to recover from the latest crisis… to process various parts of it, to heal a bit, and to find the energy I need to keep going. Basically, I’ve been doing a lot of the things I’ve written about in this post; which is why I wrote it. I thought that maybe it could be helpful for others. I’ve got a lot of crisis-navigating experience, and I can work on passing it along.
I also wrote this post to help me process what I’ve been dealing with. Last week in a post on rage I noted that my next post here would be on how “what we’re doing isn’t enough,” but instead this is where my energy has been. Sometimes we need to focus on healing and recovery, and so I have. It’s coming along. I’m getting my bearings, finding my grounding, and even finding some strength and wherewithal that I’d sort of lost track of in the last month with the latest crisis.
On the nonprofit side, we’ll be doing more here at Shift the Country with this sort advice on navigating chaos and disruption; with some related coaching, and with ideas for doing different things with political organizing. The Take Action page has a guide and several lists of ideas to get going on the work we’re pushing — which is to drive way more ruckus, civic engagement, and news coverage in communities everywhere to get more voters fired up and voting this year. Any person and any group can do this stuff. If you want help to get started, sign up for a conversation on how to get started.
If your group needs coaching or speaking about any of this, let us know or book a time to talk. Shift the Country would like to help groups extend their influence and reach to help Democrats hold this democracy together this year and going forward.
This nonprofit would like to help more people and groups play smarter in this time of crisis. We need us. We need level-headed people making good decisions in the high-pressure, high-stakes emergencies that are coming our way.
Join us.