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In April, my family lost our house, belongings and cat when a freak storm caused flooding. For the first few days, I felt numb. I was on autopilot just dealing with all the necessary jobs – rescuing salvageable items, throwing away other things, finding temporary accommodation and more. Most importantly, we had to help our children feel as settled as possible when nothing was settled. It felt like there was no time or space for me to have my own emotions. But anytime I paused for a minute, the emotions snuck in anyway. I felt sadness, despair, worry, shame, anger, confusion, shock and a whole lot of exhaustion.

I felt sad because we’d lost our cat and so many things we loved. Despair because I wasn’t sure how we’d bounce back from this, as well as for the state of the world when severe weather events are happening more frequently. Worry because I could see my kids really distressed. Shame because I like to help others and here I was needing to accept help from so many other people. Anger at bureaucracy that added to my stress. Confusion about what I needed to do next with lots of helpful people giving me conflicting advice. Shock because our whole life was flipped upside down overnight. Exhaustion because there was so much to do and I couldn’t think straight to do any of it. Each emotion was telling me........

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