After reading my comments in yesterdays blog about tornadoes and the fact that we’ve had a couple of close calls over the years, I received e-mails from two different people who tell me that they are terrified of traveling in much of the country because of tornadoes and other natural disasters that might happen.
One lady wrote to say that between tornadoes in the Midwest and South, earthquakes in California, and hurricanes on the southeast coast they are always afraid to venture far from their home in New England. The other person who wrote me said that after being caught in one nasty storm in Oklahoma several years ago, they have confined their traveling to the Pacific Northwest. How do you respond to people like this?
I want to tell them to just relax and enjoy themselves. Yes, they might get caught in some kind of natural disaster. They might even get killed in one. But what the heck, we’ve all got to die of something! We might as well have fun until that happens, right?
It’s not my point to belittle their very real concerns, but that’s the truth. None of us are getting out of this life alive. We all come with an expiration date, we just don’t know what ours is. You never know when you climb behind the wheel of your car for a quick trip to the grocery store if some drunk won’t hit you head on, or some idiot busy texting takes you out. You could fall victim to anything from a psychopath to a rabid dog, you might get a bad plate of seafood, or a meteorite may come through the roof and cave in your skull while you’re napping on the sofa some afternoon.
You’re right, none of those things will probably ever happen to you. I hope not. I hope you die peacefully in your sleep at a very old age, surrounded by the people who love you.
But more than that, I hope you enjoy all of the years you have left between now and then. Sometimes all we can do is use common sense, take normal precautions, and leave the rest up to God or fate, whichever you choose. There is a great big country out there filled with wonderful places to see, fascinating people to meet, and exciting things to do. Please don’t let fear keep you from living your life to the fullest.
A while back John and Kathy Huggins from the Living The RV Dream website visited with us in our motorhome and interviewed me for one of their podcasts. John and Kathy are very a nice couple, and their weekly podcasts always have a lot of very good information in them for RVers. During our visit we talked about everything from working on the road to our Gypsy Journal rallies and self-publishing. John and Kathy plan to be at our rally in Celina, Ohio in September, and John will be doing a seminar on podcasting. We are looking forward to having them there. Click here to listen our visit, and check in often with John and Kathy to see what they’re up to.
Thought For The Day – It doesn’t work to leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Isn’t it a good thing that this is a big world and there is room for all sorts of people?
Personally, I think life is too short to spend much of it worried about what might happen – but there are folks who do just that – and God bless them.
You’re right about the fact that we are all going to die from something; but I don’t really think it’s ever too late to worry about whether we lived for anything. I see so many people who are afraid to let their kids do this, or that or something else, who limit themselves on every turn and I’m just glad that I don’t feel the need to do the same.
The funny thing is that a little bit of adventure keeps me young, keeps me excited about what the day has in store, and I hope it keeps my brain a little brighter, a little fresher, and a little sassier along the way.
keep up the good work.
cheers,
Peter
away we go
I am an optimist and choose to be so.
I once was married to a pessimist and could feel his black cloud.
We know people who are fearful, and they often have “strange things” happen to them. We recognize these “hapenings “as simply the evidence of the Law of Attraction at work in their lives. Of course THEY dont believe LOA …they think they are just “unlucky” ….hmmmmm
Folks who are fearful just dont realize that giving in to their fears simply brings about what they fear.
On the other hand when we put out positive energies, we bring about those positive things into our lives.
Many fulltime RVers are perfect examples of this ….. They dream about fulltiming while still working, plan for fulltiming while in a sticks n bricks home, do the research and before they realize it are experiencing what they previously had dreamed about.
Did they have fears, concerns, uncertainties, illusions, and kack of knowledge?
Of course! Did they give in to them? No, they focused on the positive aspects of their dream, blew off the negative energies of the naysayers around them and now are the envy of their friends!
Hmmm….LOA at work. Of course! It is a LAW, not a theory, just like gravity. Whether you understand it or not. It still works. Everyday, on everyone. Equally.
In my later senior years I’m so happy we did all the things we did and traveled extensively on land, sea and in the air. Wonderful memories of our various adventures keep me smiling. We are still doing fun things but on a limited basis due to financial and physical barriers, but no sitting around waiting for the day we leave this world.
Since I grew up in the tornado belt and witnessed some first-hand, I don’t want to be near them anytime. However, I think the weather channel goes a bit overboard in their warnings, etc. They have come up with the new “tor-con” index, and frankly, if they cannot market these ideas, they are out of a job. The other day after DAllas got hit, they had a wide area on the US map marked for destruction the next day. Right where we WERE and also right where we were GOING. Not wanting to get caught in the middle, although it appeared I had no choice, I checked numerous other weather sites. Not one other site was forecasting the same. We continued on our travels through the designated target area and there was a brief rain shower late in the day, but not enough to keep the sun from shining. Last year ALL were reporting the super outbreak when we were leaving the Rio Grande Valley. We changed our travel plans and avoided the horrific storms. I DO pay attention and plan accordingly. But the “storm studs” on the weather channel seem to think the sky is falling all the time. When bad weather is eminent, I will take what precautions I can. But I do some research and have a reasonable idea of the threat.
When Barb and I were growing up both of our dads were railroad engineers. We were always told stories of how people were killed by trains and admonished to ” stop, look and listen, wig -wags aren’t reliable and the rails are for trains”. They always said that if we were killed by a train they would be too embarrased to come to our funeral. SO bring on the tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires or road construction, but please no trains. SAFE TRAVELS EVERYONE!!!
We are fulltmers and work 6 months out of the year. I park host for a state park and DH works at a grocery store for $$. Every once in a while a camper will tell me they just don’t know how we do it, sell your house, leave your grandkids, hide from storms, etc. Well, we aren’t brave, just love having wheels on our house. We were close to that tornado that struck Greensburg, KS a few years ago. We stayed in NE until it passed and then went through KS. We were on the west coast last year when the earthquake hit Japan and there were tsunami warnings all along the coast. To me, it’s a good thing that we are all different, I don’t want everyone to fulltime! I would have a more difficult time finding workamping jobs! Everyone gets to make their own choices and ain’t that fabulous!
Prudence is sometimes a good thing too…we cannot be fearful of everything, yet sometimes we need to be careful. I was hit by a fully loaded MACK truck 4 years ago now (at about 60 mph), plastered me to the front of his truck, pushed me about 1/4th mile before coming to rest (he thought his load had shifted and did not realize I was there until after walking around the tailend of his truck)…I could write a TRUE story about all that…walked away a miracle, except my hips now bother me some and likely always will (the chiropractor and I are well acquainted, tho it is now where I only have to go every 2 months or so). So NOW? Living in a place where hardly anyone knows how to drive properly, even tho not a real large population center, here on the East Coast? I no longer drive Highway 1 very often, prefering a side country road with little traffic and not many trucks, (especially loaded ones with 2 trailers behind). If we end up in the RV lifestyle, and thus will drive other places, like the West, I will be driving more (mostly let hubby drive now). We have driven in Seattle where one child lives…that traffic, even at 60 mph in places, bumper to bumper more or less…is a piece of cake. People there are mostly polite and KNOW HOW to drive. They even know what a blinker is for too….which indeed does help. By the way, it sounds like I am biased, but in general over the 9 years we have lived here, driving has been very dangerous and many close calls. You will most likely have an accident of some sort if you live here long (only 1 other accident when I was driving and that was at age 17, and it was not my fault either…so I am a good, careful driver, but it might not be enough in some situations). Perhaps living near a military base has some impact as well…those who have come home from the wars just do not seem to worry about much of anything…dare devils!! Obviously, tho 2 of our children and families live here, if we do enter the RV lifestyle, we are not planning to be here much of the time (nasty heat and humidity is also a reason some seasons).
BTW, we might go to the Sept ralley in Ohio…but may not yet have a rig by then. What do you charge for people not staying on the premises? Are there decent hotels nearby? Thanks.
Elizabeth,
There are several nice hotels in Celina that are not far from the fairgrounds. To folks not staying on the fairgrounds, cost is $5/person per day.
Before I retired, I was a mental health therapist. One of my specialties was anxiety disorders.
People who are so fearful that it prevents them from doing things they want or need to do may have an anxiety disorder. Physical symptoms that may mimic heart attacks can accompany some anxiety disorders. Often, the victims who suffer know their feelings and behavior make no sense, but can’t figure out how to stop it, no matter how they try. It frequently runs in families.
My point here is that there is help for this. I googled nimh anxiety disorders, and the second item was a very helpful booklet describing the different disorders, treatments, and how to get help. Be careful about going to weirdo sites for information.
Anxiety disorders are a disease, a chemical imbalance in the brain. It has nothing to do with the happy state of different personalities making different choices in their lives. If we were all the same, how boring the world would be!
WOW, Nick, downright cheap!! Thanks for that information!!
Last year we spent a great deal of time in OK/MO/AR/ and MS during tornado season and saw some come real close. I said no more! Yea, like that was true.
We are currently near Austin, TX and head to OK tomorrow for two weeks. Then it’s to KS for a few eeks and then on to Nebraska. Nervous? Maybe a wee bit. I do remember what happend to Dorothy and Toto.
My brother, who died in March of 2004, had a saying… “Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die to get there…. Really enjoyed your post
Hey Nick,
Thanks for the kind shout-out on your blog. Our listenership always goes up after a mention by you. We’re so glad Terry has turned the corner and is feeling a little better. See you in Celina!!
John and Kathy Huggins
Living the RV Dream
We are in New Zealand right now taking an RV tour with Fantasy RV. Saw the devastation in Christchurch from the BIG ONE they had. However, we are here and enjoying their wonderful country. Prudence is good and we feel we are prudent. But you can’t shut yourself up in a room and never expect to have any problems. LIFE IS VERY SHORT. We want to see and do those bucket list items that are important to us. Now is the time to do some of those things you want to do because you never know when it is your turn to check out of life. Let the Good Times Roll!!!!!!
Yes, there are tornados in the midwest (and the east, west, south, and New England) and earthquakes in CA, and hurricanes in FL and TX. But New England gets hurricanes occasionally, and blizzards frequently…and it gets REAL cold there.
So, IMHO, having an RV that lets you avoid hurricanes and most tornados, and definitely blizzards is a much better idea than sitting in a house or apartment with no electricity, no water, and no place to go. Oh, and those unpredictable earthquakes? Well, again, an RV with even minimal rigging for boondocking is better than a house with no utilities.
Besides, by now you’ve seen everything you can from your livingroom window. Time to get out and enjoy life. We’ve been blessed with a large nation with varied scenery, from oceans to mountains, deserts to forest, and pretty much everything you can imagine in between. It would be a mistake to leave this world without seeing at least some of it.
But that’s just my opinion…