Preparing for what’s coming by Sarah Superbad Adams

Build It Now, Stay Steady When It Matters Most

As we face the possibility of upcoming homeland plotting by terrorist groups, psychological readiness is your foundation. These skills help you stay calm, think clearly, and support each other in any crisis, whether it’s an attack, a natural disaster, or life suddenly going off the rails. If you’ve spent the past year building emergency plans, running drills, and practicing “what if” scenarios, you’re exactly where you need to be. Keep going. You’re not just preparing, you’re building real resilience for yourself, your family, and your community when it matters most.

Here’s what we can do next to prepare and stay resilient.

Educate Without Fear: When we talk to others about preparedness, the tone matters. The goal is not fear-based. The goal is to give them information, tools, and then most importantly, confidence. Within your family, for example, controlling the narrative means framing the conversation around what you can control, even during something as overwhelming as a terrorist attack. Replace fear-driven talk with practical direction. Use clear, strong language: “Here’s what we do if X happens,” or “We’re safe right now, let’s stick to our plan.” Walk each member of your family through actionable steps: getting to shelter, locking down a workspace, identifying exits, staying put until it’s safe to move. When people have rehearsed actions, their bodies and minds switch into those patterns automatically, even under extreme stress.

Helping Children Cope: Children can and do process events very differently, and they depend heavily on the adults around them to set the emotional tone. Keep discussions age appropriate and grounded in the calmest way possible. Do not expose them to graphic news footage or frightening speculation. It overwhelms them and provides no useful information. Instead, focus on safety: who they stay with, where they go, how adults will protect them. Small gestures like holding a hand, offering a hug, sitting beside them all have a very real grounding effect. Use simple, straightforward language: “We have a plan. We know what to do. You’re safe with me.” That sense of predictable structure is what helps kids stay emotionally balanced during and after a crisis.

Foster Recovery and Resiliency: After an attack or major event, families will process the experience at different speeds. Encourage open discussion without forcing it. Ask how everyone felt, what scared them, what helped, and what didn’t. Reinforce that emotional reactions like fear, anger, numbness, confusion are normal. These are not signs of weakness; they are normal responses to abnormal events. By talking through the experience, you reduce long-term stress and prevent people from bottling it up. If someone seems stuck or begins withdrawing, don’t hesitate to bring in professional support. Sometimes a therapist, counselor, or religious leader can help someone move through trauma more effectively.

Cultivate Support Networks: One of the strongest protective factors during a terrorist attack or any sudden crisis is having a network around you. Community readiness is not just about knowing who your neighbors are; it’s about building dependable, two-way relationships that hold steady under stress. As my friend @RooftopLeader likes to say, “Build trust when risk is low, leverage it when risk is high.” This can include extended family, close neighbors, teachers, coaches, faith groups, veteran and alumni groups, PTAs, and other local organizations. These networks become emotional anchors and practical resources.

Think of your family, your friends, and then your community readiness as a force multiplier. Terrorist plots aim to create fear, abandonment, and institutional paralysis. Strong networks do the opposite: they build stability, trust, confidence, and collective resilience. Preparing together strengthens the ability to absorb shock, act decisively, and avoid the confusion that threat actors count on. The same habits that protect you during a terrorist incident also apply to any large-scale crisis, from natural disasters to infrastructure failures. At a practical level, trusted networks reduce misinformation, prevent panic, and help people stay anchored to what’s real. Networks that coordinate ahead of time can move quickly to support one another, and they recover much faster afterward.

What you build now becomes your strength when it matters most. You’ve got this!

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