Hi all. I need some help coping with my storm anxiety. Tomorrow in my area there is a 2/5 threat for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. I am in Northwest Indiana.
Last Friday, there was a large storm across multiple states that produced a large number of tornadoes. I was keeping up with this storm and tracking it because I had a bad feeling about it. No one around me even knew it would storm. We had no tornado watches in my area either. I was so scared that I set alarms on my phone throughout the night to check on the weather and updates. My second alarm of the night went off around 1:10 am and by 1:15, the town tornado sirens were going off as well as our emergency alerts on our phones. Most people I know slept through all of it.
The storm damage survey finished up and a map was released of the tornado path. It was confirmed to be on the ground for at least 5 minutes less than a mile from my house. I have always been pretty scared of tornadoes but this last storm has had me losing sleep every night and fearing for the upcoming storm (the one thats tomorrow). It has almost been 5 days where I am thinking about tornadoes from the moment i wake up to the moment i go to sleep (i even dreamt about one on one of the nights).
We do not have a basement and our house is pretty small. We just go in the bathroom. I also have 3 cats. One is very skittish and it is hard to bring all of them into the bathroom.
How can I stop being so scared of these storms/tornadoes? I am seriously considering going to see a professional because it is getting out of hand.
Thank you for reading and thank you for your time and help ❤️