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Firework Anxiety

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RubyBlue

Policy Enforcement
The sound doesn’t bother me so much, though I know it does a lot of others for good reason. But I live in a rural area filled to the brim with dry grass fields, no current burn ban, and a toooon of drunk people who have no idea how not to be reckless. Every year we get fires, and every year I’m scared to death of it.

Does anyone else deal with this and any tips for calming the anxiety over things I really can’t control?
 
In my head, I try to make a plan. Like, if A happens, I’ll do B.

For my fear of my house going down in flames, I bought I fire extinguisher.

You could, for example, leave sprinklers on around your house the week before. If it would make you more comfortable.

I’m sorry you have to deal with this.
 
The sound doesn’t bother me so much, though I know it does a lot of others for good reason. But I live in a rural area filled to the brim with dry grass fields, no current burn ban, and a toooon of drunk people who have no idea how not to be reckless. Every year we get fires, and every year I’m scared to death of it.

Does anyone else deal with this and any tips for calming the anxiety over things I really can’t control?

Yes I struggle with it. What I did is go to a lake way away from all humanity and went fishing just me and my dog. I stayed there until about 3 AM then headed home. I could hear a few way off in the distance but beyond that all went well. If I don’t do that on the 4th or New Year’s Eve I just crank up the TV so I can’t hear it.
 
I've never worried about fires, whether it be fires started from fireworks or started some other way, because I've never even seen a forest fire or a fire near the house I live in.

I'm less likely to worry about something if that something has never happened to me before.

However, I do think that fireworks should only be done by professionals who really know what they're doing.
 
anxiety over things I really can’t control?
Do what I CAN control.

Ex) What’s your fire plan?
- Go bag for spur of the moment evacuation
- Short list of valuables/sentimentals to pack car with, if enough time.
- Fire safe for important documents, or originals in safety deposit box
- Fire insurance that covers manmade & wildfires, or renters insuranc
- Fire extinguishers, rain barrels, etc.

And then look at my overall preferences. For example? I would rather come home to a smoldering crater than be waiting around. So when things get dicey, emotionally, I usually pack up what I care about most & hit the road, for awhile. I just feel better on the move / removed from the source of my irritation/distress. Leaving anything I reeeeeeally care about? Isn’t an option. But I don’t care about a whole helluva lot, so it’s -usually- pretty easy for me. Other people I know are the opposite. It would drive them crazy to be gone when something might happen. So their preference is to stay, whilst mine is to go. Just personal preferance on both our parts.
 
Do what I CAN control.

Ex) What’s your fire plan?
- Go bag for spur of the moment evacuation
- Short list of valuables/sentimentals to pack car with, if enough time.
- Fire safe for important documents, or originals in safety deposit box
- Fire insurance that covers manmade & wildfires, or renters insuranc
- Fire extinguishers, rain barrels, etc.

And then look at my overall preferences. For example? I would rather come home to a smoldering crater than be waiting around. So when things get dicey, emotionally, I usually pack up what I care about most & hit the road, for awhile. I just feel better on the move / removed from the source of my irritation/distress. Leaving anything I reeeeeeally care about? Isn’t an option. But I don’t care about a whole helluva lot, so it’s -usually- pretty easy for me. Other people I know are the opposite. It would drive them crazy to be gone when something might happen. So their preference is to stay, whilst mine is to go. Just personal preferance on both our parts.

I ended up doing something similar. I gathered up my dogs who really are the only important things to me at this point, we hopped in the car and drove around. It managed to keep me and them calmer. Now I did have neighbors shooting off the pro fireworks at the time and it was really hard to get it out of my head. But having the dogs safe with me and not there were things could happen helped.
 
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