Hello all,
Welcome back to the blog. Today's post will be a bit different than the normal posts. Today we will be talking about Hurricane Helene's impact on me, and my family, and a lot about what I learned throughout the remediation process. A time of crisis is also a time to reflect on what is most important to us and shows us what matters at the end of the day.
To the left is just one photo of what my family's house looked like 2 days after the hurricane hit. Thankfully before the storm came, no family members were in the house. I reside in Orlando, FL, so I'm grateful I was not in the direct path of the storm. Our family home is located in St. Petersburg, FL, where the water rose 2 feet within the house and we lost almost everything. The only valuables that we didn't lose were everything that we placed on the tops of the counters a week prior not knowing that the storm was going to be THIS bad. We knew the remediation process was going to be tumultuous, but it was nothing we couldn't handle.
We also rented an RV to put outside the house because we had lost power due to the underground transformers, we luckily had a generator on hand to power the RV and lights so we had a place to sleep and shower while we cleaned up this mess. We had a lot of work on our hands.
Here's some of the work we did:
Demoing drywall about 30 inches up.
Ripping all the floors out and bleaching them
Gutting the entire house and garage to see what was salvageable
The entire neighborhood was in disarray, it looked like a war zone, a true natural disaster at its finest. This was just our house, a glimpse into just a fraction of what the real damage Hurricane Helene has caused. We are seriously fortunate for what we were able to save and my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected.
Although in such devastating times, I felt a huge sense of community. Each day of the week while we were working, people from the community came by with free lunch, snacks, and Gatorade. An exceptional act of kindness in a time of need did NOT go unnoticed. It was small but they were doing what they could to help.
What was comforting (and what mattered most to me) was that I was with my family, and none of us got injured. Being able to understand that what we lost, could always be replaced. Showing that materialistic things can only hold so much value. It thoroughly puts into perspective why creating lasting memories will be better 10 out of 10 of the time than a keepsake.
No matter what crisis you are going through, lean on the people you love and trust. I am fortunate enough to have a family of supporters and true caregivers, and I am eternally grateful for them. When I got the call that the house was flooded, I dropped everything I was doing and came to help.
The work was hard, but character-building. It was also teaching me what to do if this happens again. Hurricanes, floods, natural disasters, no matter the case it's going to take a toll on pretty much everything. In a previous profession, I used to clean restaurants and warehouse ceilings and walls, so it reminded me a lot of how difficult manual labor is.
If you cannot handle taking a step back and putting in the work to fix things, you are going to have a serious wake-up call when the time comes. Whether it be fixing things physically, mentally, relationally, or spiritually, you must understand that it will take work. Here is a quote I resonate heavily with:
"Everybody wants the view, but no one wants the climb" - Alex Harmozi
When something (or someone) brings you back down to earth, it will remind you of the true nature of what we do all this work for. To tie this to what I preach, it can be anything that knocks you down. You have to remind yourself that it's about how many times you get up.
Something like this reminds you of why we wake up every morning, do the things we do, and make the decisions we make. Take time this week to reflect on what you have and what you can control. Understand that everything we want, we already have, we just have not experienced it yet.
As I write this, Hurricane Milton is going to be making landfall on the west coast of Florida today, Wednesday (10/9/2024). Currently a category 4 and eventually will be a 3 when it hits. There are also literal tornados across the state. The house that we just spent so much time remediating will be hit once again, a twofold tragedy nonetheless. Tampa, FL will be underwater with a storm surge of water up to 10-15 ft. I seriously pray for my home state at this crazy time in the world.
My family has evacuated the area and have gone to the opposite side of the state while some other family members drove/flew north to get out of the direct path of the hurricane. We are all safe!
My saving grace is remembering that all we can do is our best. We take it on the chin and rebuild stronger. Not only environmental damages but emotional as well.
Stay strong everyone,
Marco Zimmerman, CSCS
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