Keith Lightfoot Blogosphere

This is “the question” swirling around inside the heads of many Christchurch people this morning as they switch off their snooze alarms and assess the damage.

Christchurch Mayor, Bob Parker is saying “There is a future here, there is great economy and a great way of life.”

The BBC’s Nick Bryant says the city’s quake-weary residents are at their wit’s end, and dozens more families have decided to leave for good.

So what should you do? … Here are a couple of suggestions:
1. Look before you leap

If you must go, then take a moment to stop and decide “why” and “where” you are going, before hastily packing a lunch bag and leaving. Life works best if you run towards a goal or a dream, rather than running away from a nightmare.

There are times when simply “running away” is extremely important, like when your building is shaking violently and collapsing around you during a 6.0 earthquake, but shortly afterwards you find yourself standing out in the street, feeling empty, tearful and confused.

Try and avoid “running away” from Christchurch in your immediate state of fear, only to discover you are alone, financially challenged and lost in a completely new environment, with no friends and family to support you.

Many of us “ran away from home” when we were young (or at least threatened to) without any direction or planned destination, and soon realised that the warmth, turmoil and unconditional love of our family was more important than our silent, stable, but slightly breezy tree hut.

How do you find the answer to this fishing puzzle?
We have all learnt to find the answer by beginning at the “fish” (i.e the solution, goal, desired result) and working towards the boat, rather than randomly diving into every possible answer and repeating the mistake over and over. Avoid “leaping off the boat”, set some goals and enjoy the journey of working towards them.

2. Limit your own internal aftershocks
Switch off the news occasionally and read a book, watch a DVD or visit a friend.

You would never consider eating fast food as your “only” food (could cause some severe bathroom aftershocks), yet in moments of crisis we often expose ourselves to a continuous stream of terror, conjecture, heartache and horror stories.

We have family and close friends in Christchurch, so we have good reason to keep a watchful eye on what is happening in Canterbury. It only takes a couple of minutes after an earthquake for the communication network to start buzzing. Text messages, Facebook, Youtube, Phone, Skype and Twitter suddenly become “hot” and images/videos of the aftershock begin to appear on internet channels almost immediately.

The media quickly picks up the story and soon your living room is filled with scenes of mass destruction, tearful people, floating vehicles, destroyed homes and endless interviews with seismologists, celebrities, victims and theorists.

Your television is a powerful tool in any emergency, providing important information, allowing you to see the situation first hand and keeping you abreast of any major changes. Your television can also produce some potentially dangerous side effects if you allow it to be the “only” food you swallow throughout the day.

Everyone is predicting more physical aftershocks and that is something you cannot control, no matter how often you hear them repeat the message on the media, but you can control some of your own internal aftershocks.

A couple of ideas to help with your emotional aftershocks:
1. Reach out to a friend or neighbour, offer encouragement and support.
(one of the most effective ways of “helping yourself”, is to take your focus off yourself, and this technique carries the double blessing of providing assistance to other people)
2. Limit your dose of “bad news” and only watch a couple of news broadcasts each day.
(grab a coffee and watch some of your favourite movies instead)
3. Help your children by limiting their earthquake exposure on the media, play games, read stories, watch uplifting DVDs.
(we are God-Parents to a fabulous little girl, who unfortunately witnessed so much of the February 22 earthquake on television, that she became extremely frightened (she does not even live in Christchurch) and very disturbed re “the earthquake”))
4. Start to plan and set goals; “Where do you see yourself in five years?” and then begin to take steps towards those goals.
(people often make life changing decisions during moments of crisis that can lead to a better long term future)
5. Find a good book and “lose yourself” in the pages, let your imagination take you to fabulous destinations and on exciting adventures.
(you can also find lots of great books on goal setting, motivation and relationships in your local bookstore or library)

I believe Mayor Bob Parker is right … Christchurch will re build and the people will stay.
I also believe the BBC is right … some people will leave.

Christchurch is beautiful, not just because of the architecture, the climate and the location. Christchurch is beautiful because of its people, and it is these people who will re build the city, house by house, street by street … not because they have nowhere else to go … but because they know where they want to be.

“For many of us, our lives, the story of our families and the hopes of our future are invested in this place and we are not going to be rushing away. Most people here in Christchurch don’t want to go anywhere else, they want to solve this and work our way through it and that’s what will happen and history will show that.”

Christchurch Mayor: Bob Parker