I hope I put this in the right forum.

So Hurricane Irma is supposed to hit us tomorrow. And I need some suggestions on how to keep myself and my mother calm. I normally do not express my fear and discomfort at naturally occurring issues. I mean there is no way to a void them. But I am honestly a bit scared. We are not in an evacuation zone. Which I suppose is a good thing. However, we are just outside the warning risky 'flood zones'. And we still do not know what exactly will be hitting us.

My mother and I live alone, her husband recently died and mine strayed elsewhere. We have food, and water and have moved everything inside. But I just can not get over the fear of this event. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stay calm during a crisis?

I'm a Tennessean, so I'm hardly an authority on hurricanes, but I can still try to offer some advice.

Try not to panic. I'm not gonna tell you not to be scared, that's silly. Anyone in their right mind should be a little scared of a storm like Irma. What you can do is, instead of worrying about it, think proactively. Try to consider things that can happen in advance and think of ways to do damage control, so to speak ahead of time. If you live on top of a hill, you're probably doing better than a lot of others.

Overall, just shift that energy from worry to a "what can I do to make sure I survive" attitude. Even if it's not particularly serious in your area, it's good to have the right mindset.

If you're not uncomfortable sharing, where are you? I don't mean street address or anything really invasive like that. Just a general area.

  It,s actually hard for me to give any advice on how to deal  with a situation like this since where I live we don,t have any hurricanes just cold winters but I guess all I can say is try to stay calm and hope for the best having seen and heard many times on the news about hurricane irma and hurricane harvey I often wondered if there was anyone here on Viz who was being affected by these 2 hurricanes my thoughts and prayers go to you and your family as well as all other people who are being affected by hurricane irma and to the many others that have been hit by hurricane harvey I pray that all will go well for you and your family

@m0ssb3rg935: I think we have prepared for almost everything. We are just outside the flood zones, so it is a tad scary.Thank you for your advice I will try to keep it in mind as things progress!

@no 8120: Thank you for the warm thoughts. It helps tons.

All I can say is that I hope we get to hear from you after the hurricane, I'd hate to find out a member of vizzed died from it. I wish you luck alright and please be safe.

Geez. I knew Irma would go to the USA but i didn't knew you would be there too. To be honest, i'm not familiar with hurricanes because in the Netherlands, we only have rough storms as maximum recently. Well, in 2012, there was a heavy storm which could be considered a hurricane but nope. Not quite.

Either way, here's something i always do to stay calm: Distract myself and others during bad situations. I don't know if it would help, but you could try to do something with whoever is with you. Like a boardgame. Or some simple tasks in the house you couldn't do. And if you can, you could check how it's going outside every now and then. But distraction could help you have your mind focused on something else.

I bet m0ss and no gave better advice, but that doesn't mean others and i can't give you good avice too. This advice is the best i can give, and it's an idea. I bet you'll be safe after all!

EDIT: I'm a bit late, aren't i?

An update: My mother and I went to my grandmother's. We are waiting now. Nothing gotten bad yet but we're all trying to stay upbeat. 

We're home! Everyone is alright we just have a busted window and a flat tire. Electricity, water, and the internet just came on so we can take care of ourselves and let the family know we're safe!

Namrea :  
You don't want to know how worried i was, even though we barely know each other. I kept hoping you would make it and it was the most common topic i've discussed at my place.

Glad you're safe after all! I heard in the news Irma did some severe damage at wherever it went to. So... I expect more news to come about this but knowing you're safe, i can sleep with a more comfortable thought.

The reason why i was worried so much is because i care for everyone on this site. Knowing one of the members is in severe danger is not a positive thought.

@MarioLucarioFan64: Thank you for your concern. It means a lot. It slowed when it got to us. Still did a lot of damage but mostly just external things like streetlights, roads, bridges. But thankfully the state was really strict on who could travel we were under curfew until 9 am this morning. And they are still telling people they should only travel if they absolutely have to.

Good to hear you're safe. I know someone else that's in the southern part of Florida that says they really dodged a bullet when Irma moved so far west. I'm sure it's done a whole lot of damage but it looks like it wasn't near as bad as it could've been.

  thank you so much for the update while I,m not very familiar with you I was worried about how everything was going to turn out once hurricane irma passed I am very glad to hear that you and your mother are safe

My thoughts and payers go out to all the victims and there families of the hurricanes.
God Bless.

Thank you, everyone, for the good wishes. T things are cleaning up quickly here. They got most of the roads cleared and the emergency personnel has been rushing by all day. I live on a busy street and can hear them pass often. Hopefully, not many people were hurt.

@Namrea:

I'm so glad to hear you and your family are doing well.

I was going to get Irma but something happened and I ended up not having a hurricane.

And I hope anyone here that went through the Hurricane is alive, safe and well.

Though I did get some "Essence" of the hurricane, Like wind and heavy rain. But nothing much.

But again. Hope others are well.