What to do, when you don’t know what to do

Poem by Ashley Fay

The time to prepare for a storm
is before the storm hits.
Before the sky darkens,
before panic admits
it waited too long
to learn how to stand—
before chaos demands
what calm could have planned.

Slow your breath down.
Stand still in your skin.
Panic burns fast,
But calm lets you win.

Avoid the big crowds—
They draw too much sight.
Masses move slowly,
And panic spreads wide.
Safety stays smaller,
Unmarked, unseen.
Tell no one if you have to leave.

Know where you’re going
Before you must go.
Exits, back roads,
What few people know.

Pack light. Pack smart.
Take only what’s true—
What keeps you alive,
When you don’t know what to do.

Keep fuel for the moment,
Avoid stations to start,
Enough gas to leave,
Before grids fall apart.

Escape isn’t failure,
Evasion’s not shame.
It’s choosing to live,
Even if you have to start again.

Store water and food.
Store skills and rest.
Store who you trust,
Discernment is best.

If they’re complicit, you cannot trust.
Ignorance destroys to ash and dust.
Forgiveness will kill you too.
Once, they show you, now they’re through.

Stock what the air
May one day deny—
Masks for your lungs,
So you still get to try.

Tell your children the truth.
They may have to make it without you.
That’ the untold truth of war…

The storm never warns.
It just arrives.
So prepare while the weather
still looks like your life.