Earthquake - shook more than just the ground

14th November 2017 around 12am I was woken up by a very strong earthquake. It was so strong that our half open door was banging and the tower fan was swaying side to side. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the south island and was felt all over New Zealand. It felt like it went for at least half a minute. After a while I thought may be my head was spinning but no it was the ground shaking.

When I woke up I said to my husband 'it is really strong'. He was holding my hand and I stayed in bed for a while for it to pass. But it kept on going, with every passing second my heart rate was going up and up and up. And as I got ready to get out of bed it started to fade away.

It was nerve recking to go through it as for those few seconds I replayed my life in my head. The practical side of my brain thought of what we need to do, what we need to take and how we will exit the house safely if need be. And the emotional side of my brain was thinking about my husband, my babies and the life we have worked so hard to make. For those few seconds my heart was in my mouth and I was a little numb. I felt so many emotions at once.

Once it was all over I went back to bed with my heart still pounding with random thoughts crossing my mind. One very important quote I read ages ago struck me 'the trouble is you think you have time'.

Time is underestimated, I know with me and with a lot of people, we get busy with day today things and we sometimes forget what is important. We look at our phones all day long and forget to talk to people around us.

We are so busy looking at what other people are doing that we forget to do what we are suppose to do. Most teenagers I meet these days have zero social skills because they are socially active on internet. I don't have anything against technology, rather the opposite. However, the balance between social networking on internet and social networking in person is getting lost.

After the scary earthquake I have made a promise to myself that I will make sure I make an extra effort to spend more time with the people I love. Make sure my husband and my kids know how much I love them everyday.

Everyday I wake up I want to be grateful for the life I have. Make sure that I give my 100% to everything I do. Yes there will be time when I I want to have some down time. But I will make sure I enjoy my downtime to max as well. Whatever I want to do I will do it now. Because the trouble is 'we think we have time'.