Research shows that almost half of disaster survivors will develop PTSD. According to the University of Washington:
“Estimates show that 5-10% of all survivors will need significant clinical care.“
That’s why preparing mentally for a disaster is just as important as preparing physically, and that’s exactly what you’ll learn how to do in this article – how to stay calm during a disaster.
At Survival Stoic, we specialize in helping you prepare mentally and physically for life’s most challenging moments. After our founder’s neighborhood was devastated by an EF4 tornado in 2020, he was amazed by the lack of mental preparedness help available. So, he decided to change that.
In this article, we’ll look at five powerful Stoic techniques that can help you stay calm and focused during a disaster.
How Stoicism Can Help
So, what does stoicism have to do with preparing for an emergency?
Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that focuses on what you can control, accepting what you cannot, and acting virtuously in the face of adversity. It has guided tons of people since ancient Rome and is seeing a bit of a renaissance today.
In times of crisis, stoicism is particularly helpful because it is very practical and is all about managing fear and stress.
However, it is also something you have to practice beforehand. You can’t just read about stoicism and then magically expect those skills to turn on during an emergency.
Below are some principles we use to help us prepare for an emergency.
How to Stay Calm During a Disaster
1. Focus on What You Can Control
No one can control when or how a disaster happens. However, we tend to spend a lot of mental energy wishing it didn’t happen. Disasters naturally bring chaos, and most of that chaos is completely beyond our control.
Stoicism teaches us that we should focus on our own actions, thoughts, and decisions – not things beyond ourselves that we cannot control. It’s important to accept that external events (like disasters) are beyond our control.
This allows you to focus on what you can do, like gathering resources and supporting others, instead of focusing on how bad it is or who’s fault it could be.
2. Practice Negative Visualization
Negative visualization is one of the best ways you can prepare for any disaster. It involves imagining the worst-case scenario before it happens, allowing you to better prepare for it.
Think about some natural disasters that are likely to happen in your area. Then, imagine how your life would be impacted if they did happen. What are some resources that would become crucial? Add these to your survival gear list.
If you’ve already started preparing for emergencies, imagine different ways your current plan could do wrong. What if your water filter breaks? Or a flood destroys your food supply? This will help you spot holes in your plan.
Negative visualization can also help you mentally prepare for these situations. When you’ve already “rehearsed” what you’ll do during a disaster, actually doing it stops being quite so stressful.
3. Embrace the Present Moment
During a disaster, it’s easy to feel paralyzed by “what-ifs.” Stoics emphasize grounding yourself in the present. Our minds can make things out to be much worse than they really are, and focusing on the past or worrying what may happen tomorrow only adds to the stress.
Instead, focus on what needs to be done right now. Today, this could mean stocking up on supplies from our prepper checklist or picking up some of the items on our get home bag list. Getting these supplies can make a huge difference during an actual disaster!
But, don’t let yourself get stressed by “what-if” scenarios while you’re preparing. This will help you stay in the moment during a disaster, too.
Once you experience a disaster, just take it one step at a time. Do the most important thing first (like get to safety), then take the next, and so on.
4. Cultivate Inner Virtues
Stoicism places great importance on virtues like courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice. Cultivating these values can help guide your actions during a disaster and help ensure you make better decisions in a crisis.
For instance, courage helps you face danger, and justice keeps you considerate of others.
Studying more and practicing these virtues brings clarity and strength under pressure.
5. Detach from Emotional Extremes
Fear and anger are natural responses to any crisis. However, they can also cloud judgment and make you much less effective. Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge these emotions but not be so consumed by them that you make rash decisions.
There are several ways you can accomplish this. But, the most important step is to notice when you are fearful or angry and to take a step back. Take a few moments to think logically about your perceptions and thoughts.
Developing a Stoic Mindset Before a Disaster
Knowing these important principles is one thing, but practicing them and implementing them in your life is completely different!
You can buy everything off of our bug out bag list, but if you don’t train your mind, too, you won’t be properly prepared for a disaster.
Luckily, this doesn’t have to be hard! Just adopting a few simple practices can help you develop the principles we’ve discussed above:
- Daily Reflection: Take time each day to assess your thoughts and actions, noting where you can implement the principles above better. Did you focus on only the things you could control? Could you have acted more virtuously in a specific situation?
- Negative Visualization: This practice is one of the easiest to implement in your daily life. Imagine potential disasters and mentally rehearse how you could handle them.
- Journaling: You can write your daily reflection down, too. Many find daily journaling can help them gain perspective and see their progress.
- Study Stoic Philosophy: The more you read about stoicism, the easier it will be for you to implement it. Read texts like Meditations by Marcus Aurelius or Letters from a Stoic to help you gain a deeper understanding of these principles.
- Controlled Exposure: Build resilience by intentionally stepping out of your comfort zone in small, manageable ways (like fasting or cold exposure).
Just Start with One Thing
You don’t have to implement everything we’ve talked about right away. In fact, I’d recommend choosing one thing to implement today.
You might buy a book on Stoicism or a journal to write down your thoughts in.
Stoicism is a very deep hole, and you can explore it as in-depth as you want. We have resources like our guide on Stoic Principles and our Prepping Mindset guide for those who want to dive deeper into this ancient philosophy.
If you’re completely new to prepping, I’ve written a guide on How to Start Prepping to help you get started. Mental preparedness is important, but it is only half of the equation, after all!
Also check out our Bugging out vs Bugging in guide for tips on making the best decisions for your family.
