No Power? No Problem!

By: Nate Webster, IMH

            Hurricanes can create a lot of serious problems. Flooding, winds and damage to structures. However one of the problems we don’t often talk about is boredom. When the power goes out, but the wind and rain are still hours away from finishing, individuals can suddenly find themselves with nothing to do. Besides monitoring the storm every couple of minutes through your living room window, you are basically sitting around with none of your usual activities to occupy yourself.  So what should you do? Well as a Florida native I’ve lived through probably 20 hurricanes and each one involved a lot of waiting. While we waited, we kept ourselves busy with several different activities but there were three that I found particularly helpful that I’d love to pass along to you. 

1. Cleaning: It’s boring to do, but surprisingly less boring when you have no power. Think of all those little things you never have time to do when you’re normally cleaning. With all the sitting around that may come from power outages maybe its time to knock some of those out. Most cleaning doesn’t require electricity, just a broom, paper towels and cleaner. So think to yourself, when is the last time you swept behind your fridge? Dusted your ceiling fans or wiped down the base boards? It’s boring, but less boring and more distracting than doing nothing!

2. Games: Speaking of boring, the second activity to occupy your time are board games. A deck of cards, or a good four player board game can keep the boredom at bay for hours. Parents can teach their kids some classic games and kids can teach their parents some modern games. If you have an expendable cell-phone, you can use it’s battery to play several different games that you can download ahead of time. “Heads up!” is a personal favorite for it requires no internet and it’s hilarious.

3.  Music: Music was our favorite activity to make the time go by. You can sing real songs, fake songs or even recreate actual songs. My favorite singing game was “The one word song”, where you sit in a circle and each person adds one lyric at a time to the song being sung. You also add your own notes and pitch to the song as well. Before you know it you and your friends and family have created one wonky song with some hilarious rhythms. After you write the song, see if anyone can sing it back to the group.

            I hope these power outage activities help you stay busy while you wait out the storm. Remember, if we stick together we can get through it together.

To schedule an appointment with Nate Webster, please call our office at 407-647-7005.

www.lifeworksgroup.org

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