Life Disruption: How to be prepared

                                                                                                              Life disruption: Small protections matter

 

Life Disruption: How Inner Strength Prepares Us 

By Joanna Poppink, MFT

Licensed Psychotherapist – Depth-Oriented Healing for Adults

Life disruption preparedness is more than stored extra water, canned goods and board games in the closet. We often think of planning as a practical activity—saving money, assembling emergency kits, and organizing documents. But there's another layer to preparation, one that psychotherapy addresses: emotional and psychological readiness.

Before a crisis strikes—whether it's personal, collective, or existential—your ability to face what's difficult to imagine can become a quiet strength. You don't just plan for what to do. You prepare for how to be.

What Is Life Disruption?

Disruption doesn't always dramatically announce itself. Sometimes, it begins with a slow unraveling. Other times, it arrives with a shock. These disruptions can be natural, economic, physical, emotional, or relational. And while no therapist or plan can cover every possibility, awareness of what may come allows for grounded, compassionate preparation.

1. Natural Disasters

Earthquake, wildfire, blizzard, flood.

You may want to prepare by storing water, medications, and pet food and creating an evacuation plan. But what about the moment you realize your home isn't safe anymore? The grief of losing place, routine, or cherished objects?

2. Economic Collapse

Job loss. Career change. Retirement derailment.

Even with financial planning, there is often emotional fallout: fear of irrelevance, shame about asking for help, and identity confusion when you're no longer who you were professionally.

3. Loss of Access to Education or Job Training

Programs are cut. Schools close. A promotion requires a credential you can no longer obtain.

This disruption is quieter, but the grief is real—especially if you saw learning as your future. You may feel blocked from growing, contributing, or moving forward.

4. Illness, Aging, and Death

Your diagnosis. A partner's dementia. The sudden loss of someone you love.

These bring both practical challenges and inner disorientation. You may grieve not only the person or function that has gone, but also the assumptions you held about time and safety.

5. Political or Social Upheaval

National Guard in the streets. Deportations. Local economies are collapsing.

Even if not personally targeted, the collective nervous system absorbs these shocks. You may find yourself sleepless, numb, hypervigilant, or profoundly disoriented.

What Kind of Life Disruption Preparation Are We Talking About?

Let's be clear: psychotherapy is not a substitute for logistical planning. A therapist doesn't provide legal advice, financial strategies, emergency blueprints, or technical fixes. And no one psychotherapist can guide someone through every type of life disruption.

What depth-oriented psychotherapy can do is help you prepare for the internal dimensions of these events:

• Facing your fear of the unknown
• Examining your attachment to roles, identities, and routines
• Processing anticipatory grief
• Surfacing unconscious resistance to change
• Exploring what it means to rebuild meaning after loss

This is emotional groundwork—psychological readiness. It doesn't prevent disruption. However, it strengthens your ability to navigate it without losing your way.

Life Disruption: The Difference Between Preparing and Recovering

It's also important to note that psychotherapy before a crisis is different from psychotherapy during or after one.

Before a crisis, therapy may help you:

• Explore avoidance or magical thinking ("It won't happen to me")
• Confront fears around aging, dependence, or loss
• Strengthen your sense of self outside your roles or achievements
• Clarify what matters to you—so your plans reflect your values

This is proactive work. The disruption hasn't arrived yet—but your psyche is preparing.

During or after a crisis, therapy shifts focus:

• Managing trauma responses and overwhelm
• Containing acute anxiety or grief
• Processing events too fast or too big to integrate
• Rebuilding agency and internal coherence

That's reactive, stabilizing work. Many psychotherapists do both—but not all. And that distinction matters when choosing support.

Why Do Some People Avoid Preparing for Life Disruption?

Even when the need seems obvious, people often resist planning. Why?

• Overwhelm: Daily survival consumes so much energy, leaving little to think ahead.
• Shame: Some people feel they don't deserve to prepare—especially if they've internalized trauma or scarcity.
• Denial: Imagining disaster feels worse than the false comfort of ignoring it.
• Cultural Pressure: In a culture that glorifies spontaneity and "good vibes only," preparation is often mislabeled as pessimism.
• Fear of Change: To prepare is to admit things might change. For many, that's unbearable.

Psychotherapy can gently bring these dynamics into awareness—not to push you into action, but to help you choose with your eyes open.

Being Mocked for Preparing for Life Disruption

Another barrier is social ridicule. You may be called paranoid, dramatic, or joyless for wanting to prepare.

If you've been mocked for storing supplies, budgeting carefully, updating your résumé, or keeping a go-bag, you're not alone. Many thoughtful people—especially women—are dismissed for "worrying too much."

Mockery often comes from others' fear, shame, or discomfort. Your foresight reminds them of what they've avoided. Ridicule becomes a way to push that discomfort back onto you.

Psychotherapy can help here, too. It can support you in:

• Understanding why their mockery stings
• Separating your truth from others' projections
• Affirming your motivations (love, care, caution—not fear)
• Setting boundaries or finding more supportive communities

In time, what seemed like "paranoia" may be recognized as wisdom.

Why Plan If the Life Disruption Might Never Happen?

Because the act of preparing isn't just about what might come. It's about who you become in the process.

You become someone:

• More attuned to reality
• Less driven by denial
• More grounded in what matters
• Better able to face, not flee, difficulty
• Clearer in your values and relationships

Even if the crisis never comes, these changes enrich your life.

And if it does come? You're not scrambling. You've already begun the inner work of meeting change with presence and purpose.

You Don't Have to Do It All Alone

This article is not meant to suggest that psychotherapy—or any single person—can solve all of life's disruptions. What it does propose is this:

Emotional and psychological preparation matter. Emotions and psychological preparation significantly influence how we experience disruption, recover, and rebuild.

Depth psychotherapy can be one part of that preparation. It helps you face what you'd rather avoid—before it takes you by surprise. And it supports your internal alignment so that even in loss, you are not lost.

Summary

• Life disruptions come in many forms: illness, job loss, disaster, social collapse, aging, and grief.
• Practical planning is crucial—but so is psychological readiness.
• Depth psychotherapy helps you build emotional resilience before disruption strikes.
• Therapy for crisis preparation differs from therapy during a crisis.
• Not all therapists are trained to provide support for every kind of disruption.
• Mockery for planning is common and often rooted in others' avoidance.
• Preparing for the unthinkable can strengthen you, even if the crisis never materializes.

When to Seek Help

If preparing brings up overwhelming emotion—or if you feel stuck in avoidance, shame, or fear—psychotherapy may be right for you. It won't make you invulnerable. But it can help you become more inwardly steady, clear-eyed, and self-compassionate.

You may not be able to control what's coming. But you can prepare your inner world to meet it with strength, depth, and dignity.

FAQ: Preparing for Life Disruption

Q: Can psychotherapy really help me prepare for something that hasn't happened yet?

A: Yes. Depth psychotherapy helps you face the possibility of loss, change, or disruption without denial or panic. It supports emotional processing, clarifies values, and allows for internal strengthening—so you are more grounded if and when disruption occurs.

Q: What's the difference between therapy to prepare for disruption and therapy after a crisis?

A: Preparing in advance focuses on uncovering fears, confronting avoidance, and developing resilience. Therapy after a crisis often centers on trauma recovery, grief support, and psychological stabilization. Both are valuable—but they involve different types of work.

Q: Are therapists trained to help with every kind of crisis?

A: No. While many psychotherapists are skilled in emotional support, they are not substitutes for professionals in legal, financial, medical, or emergency matters. Therapy complements—but does not replace—other forms of planning and expertise.

Q: What if people mock or dismiss me for trying to prepare?

A: That's common, especially for thoughtful people who go against the cultural grain. Ridicule often stems from others' denial, fear, or discomfort with the situation. Therapy can help you establish boundaries, affirm your values, and remain grounded in your intentions—even when you're misunderstood.

Q: What's the point of preparing if the crisis never happens?

A: The process of preparing fosters self-trust, emotional clarity, and deeper alignment with your priorities. It's not wasted effort—it's self-care. And if disruption does arrive, you'll meet it with more inner strength and less chaos.

Life Disruption Self-Examination Questions: How Prepared Are You—Emotionally and Practically?

Use these prompts for journaling, contemplation, or discussion in therapy. They can help you identify areas of resistance and readiness in your relationship to disruption.

Emotional Awareness

1. What kinds of disruption do I fear the most? Why?
2. Do I tend to avoid thinking about future loss, illness, or instability?
3. What emotions arise when I imagine preparing for something hard?
4. Have I ever been through a crisis that caught me off guard? What did I learn?
5. What meaning do I attach to the idea of being prepared?

Relational & Social Influences

1. Do people in my life support or dismiss my efforts to prepare?
2. How do I feel when others mock or minimize my concerns?
3. Can I discuss my fears or plans openly with anyone I trust?
4. Do I feel isolated in my awareness of potential disruption?

Identity & Self-Concept

1. How would my self-image change if I were no longer able to work, provide, or function in my usual way?
2. Who am I outside of my current roles and routines?
3. Do I believe I am worth protecting, caring for, and preparing for?

Practical Reflection

1. Have I made any practical plans for emergencies (e.g., disaster, illness, job loss)?
2. What kind of support (emotional, legal, or financial) would I need if a disruption were to occur?
3. What resources—both internal and external—could I rely on in a crisis?

Resources

Books (with URLs)

1. **Anticipatory Grief: The Journey of a Thousand Losses and Endless Grace**
   by Susan G. Goldberg (2019)
   Explores grief before a major loss
   https://www.amazon.com/Anticipatory-Grief-Journey-Thousand-Endless/dp/194597642X

2. The Body Keeps the Score
   by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
   Foundational text on trauma, embodied memory, and healing
   https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748

3. Women Who Run with the Wolves
   by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
   Depth-psychology, story and soul-healing
   https://www.amazon.com/Women-Who-Run-Wolves-Archetype/dp/0345409876

Online Articles & Reports

1. **“Anticipatory Grief”** – Wikipedia (2025)
   Clinical background and emotional dimensions
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticipatory_grief 

2. “Anticipatory Grief and Mourning: Suggested Resources” – Grief Healing Blog
   Therapeutic practices and coping strategies
   https://griefhealingblog.com/2014/08/anticipatory-grief-and-mourning.html

3. “How to Prepare for a Disaster, Emotionally and Mentally” – WIRED (2021)
   Emphasizes internal preparation to complement external planning
   https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-prepare-disaster-emotionally-mentally

4. Psychological Preparedness for Natural Hazards – UN/UNDP PDF Report (2019)
   Global perspective on mental readiness in disasters
   https://www.preventionweb.net/files/66345_f357zulchpsychologicalpreparednessf.pdf

   • Depth Psychotherapy: How to Get the Most Out of It
     https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/psychotherapy-and-recovery-work/depth-psychotherapy-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-it eatingdisorderrecovery.net+9eatingdisorderrecovery.net+9eatingdisorderrecovery.net+9

   • Emotional Holding in Depth Psychotherapy
     https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/psychotherapy-and-recovery-work/difference-between-comfort-and-holding-in-recovery-work en.wikipedia.org+2eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2

   • Strength in Economic Crisis: How Depth Psychotherapy Supports You
     https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/psychotherapy-and-recovery-work/strength-in-economic-crisis-how-depth-psychotherapy-supports-you eatingdisorderrecovery.net+9eatingdisorderrecovery.net+9eatingdisorderrecovery.net+9

   • Dictators Fear Depth Psychotherapy: Why?
     https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/psychotherapy-and-recovery-work/why-dictators-fear-depth-psychotherapy eatingdisorderrecovery.net

   • Power vs. Control: A Life-Changing Distinction for Healing and Survival
     https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/psychotherapy-and-recovery-work/power-vs-control-a-life-changing-distinction-for-healing-and-survival eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2

   • Reclaim Inner Freedom: How Authoritarian Systems and Trauma Limit You
     https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/psychotherapy-and-recovery-work/reclaim-inner-freedom-how-authoritarian-systems-and-trauma-limit-you eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2eatingdisorderrecovery.net+2

5. Podcasts

   1. Beyond Trauma, Episode 11: “Post-traumatic Growth”
      Discusses healing, meaning-making, and growth after life disruption
      https://beyondtraumapodcast.com/2021/01/episode-11-post-traumatic-growth
      
      

And that old story that grownups forget:

Three Little Pigs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl5rvGmwBfk

 

Contact Joanna

 

Joanna Poppink, MFT. Depth psychotherapist. Private sessions. All appointments are virtual. licensed in CA, OR, AZ, FL.  For a free telelphone consultation write:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.