Irma, Island Life, St. Maarten

Confessions of an Anxious Irma Survivor

You must have heard of Hurricane Irma. What a b*tch! She damaged us. She made us weary. She took away our conveniences. At 185 mph, she left us broken, but she did give us a few good things:

  • Togetherness – sitting on my porch with neighbours eating, drinking and chatting
  • Gratitude – appreciating the fact that I still had life, a roof, friends and family
  • Perspective – understanding what matters, and seeing that we take so much for granted

Besides these positives, she left me in another way.

Anxious.

I have woken up in a panic. Worrying about what’s coming next. You can tell me that I shouldn’t live my life waiting for something bad to happen, but I’m scarred. Whenever a news article enters my newsfeed with the words tropical, cyclone, outlook, prediction, active…(enter National Hurricane Center buzzword here) my heart skips a beat.

The Type-A Personality has taken over and I wonder:

What can we do better?
How can we be more prepared?
Can we crawl under a rock?
Can we build a safe room?
Can we jump on a plane and flee?
Can we relocate?

I say some of these in jest, but I can’t say that they didn’t all cross my mind.

Naturally, I already have a list of things to start buying, in order to beat the rush. Anyone else would read that and think, but it’s EARLY…Well, so what if the hurricane season doesn’t start until June?! A girl’s gotta be prepared!

I have a Plan A, B, C & D and I will probably obsess over it until November 30th.

Anyone want to join my support group?

xxx

Cherise

Fitness, St. Maarten, Uncategorized

Fear & Loathing with My Trainer

If you’ve ever seen Eddie Murphy’s comedy special Delirious, you would have seen a segment that he does, in which he explains how a child feels after he’s been disciplined by his mother and is sent to his room. While he has unconditional love for her, he stands behind the door and says “God please kill her” with a laugh. After I work out with Dayana, I think about this skit and how much I hate her and love her at the same time. She laughs it off and says that if I didn’t hate her, she isn’t doing her job. I also hate her because she is right. Nevertheless, I hardly miss a day and I love it. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m lazy and not all that into fitness, but working out with Dayana makes me feel strong and accomplished.

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After workout…still smiling (barely)

 

Continue reading “Fear & Loathing with My Trainer”

Island Life, St. Maarten, Technology, Uncategorized

Disconnect

We live in a technologically driven world. We are addicts. There’s always another video, another article, another tweet, another post, another page, another pin, and another picture. Without fear of dating myself, I must say: the younger generation is worse. These young people watch Vines. For those of you who don’t know, Vines are videos that can only be 6 seconds long. Their “time” is so limited they can only allow 6 seconds to watch each video. 6 seconds! Technology has shortened our attention spans. Continue reading “Disconnect”