I had a very proud moment the other day. I was in a tornado warning and I did not break down and start praying to God to spare me like crazy. Seriously-that's my norm. I don't do well in bad weather. Watches of any kind are enough to cause an increase in my blood pressure! (well watches related to potential weather threats at least-I'm not Captain Hook-throw a time telling watch at me and I'll just take it and thank you for the free watch)
This past Friday my area started by being in a tornado watch and I thought to myself "ok....just a watch.....nothing major.....you'll be fine" and then we got the announcement that the Watch is now a Warning. Sirens started going off in my head. Literally. I work at a college and we have very loud sirens that go off in case of severe weather threats or emergencies. I guess now would be a good time to say that on Friday we also had an event where I work so there were more than 900 visitors on campus in addition to the regular students and staff. Even though I felt bad for our visitors, I think they helped me keep calm. I am always much less worried if someone is with me. Even if that person can't do a single thing to help. The responsible and confident side of me kicks in and starts taking over. My thoughts turn from individual doomsday mentality to a proactive 'what can I do to make the situation better' mentality. I could have gone to the lower level of the building I was in with all the visitors right away. Heck-I got the announcement before the sirens started going off so really I could have beat them down there and been the welcoming party. But I didn't. I stayed where I was to go around alerting people where to go and what was happening. Only after everyone was taken care of did I go downstairs. Then I got to spin the situation into a "see how fast and effective we are at taking care of our students when there is any form of threat!?!" kind of message. (work long enough where I work and you can spin anything you want into a positive!)
End of the story is that I am alive. The tornado wasn't even very close to us at all. No damage around where I live which is exactly the way I like it. I also was able to save face in front of my coworkers and a bunch of strangers which is also exactly how I like it. But if I can avoid another tornado warning for a long time, I'd be absolutely ok with it!
This past Friday my area started by being in a tornado watch and I thought to myself "ok....just a watch.....nothing major.....you'll be fine" and then we got the announcement that the Watch is now a Warning. Sirens started going off in my head. Literally. I work at a college and we have very loud sirens that go off in case of severe weather threats or emergencies. I guess now would be a good time to say that on Friday we also had an event where I work so there were more than 900 visitors on campus in addition to the regular students and staff. Even though I felt bad for our visitors, I think they helped me keep calm. I am always much less worried if someone is with me. Even if that person can't do a single thing to help. The responsible and confident side of me kicks in and starts taking over. My thoughts turn from individual doomsday mentality to a proactive 'what can I do to make the situation better' mentality. I could have gone to the lower level of the building I was in with all the visitors right away. Heck-I got the announcement before the sirens started going off so really I could have beat them down there and been the welcoming party. But I didn't. I stayed where I was to go around alerting people where to go and what was happening. Only after everyone was taken care of did I go downstairs. Then I got to spin the situation into a "see how fast and effective we are at taking care of our students when there is any form of threat!?!" kind of message. (work long enough where I work and you can spin anything you want into a positive!)
End of the story is that I am alive. The tornado wasn't even very close to us at all. No damage around where I live which is exactly the way I like it. I also was able to save face in front of my coworkers and a bunch of strangers which is also exactly how I like it. But if I can avoid another tornado warning for a long time, I'd be absolutely ok with it!
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