“You can’t let fear and the anxiety of the situation take control. You have to go, ‘Well, what needs to be done next? What is the next best thing to do?'” ~ Davyne Dial

What might choosing to be curious about the unthinkable offer?

Might a curiosity mindset help when disaster strikes?

And who worries about a hurricane taking out whole communities 300 miles from the North Carolina coast?

But that’s exactly what happened when Hurricane Helene slammed into the Asheville area in September 2024.

Davyne Dial is and was then general manager at WPVM 103.7 FM, in Asheville. She learned the hard way: we should all be more curious about the very things we want least to think about.

 We’ve all gotten so totally dependent on the digital world that when digital is gone, what the hell do you do?

We talked about confronting the total collapse of systems we rely on, curiosity overcoming anxiety and fear as a spur to action, the value of a truly candid risk assessment, improvisation and creative responses to current and future system failure, resilience and the importance of community in a crisis (hurrah for ham radio!), asking the right questions — including “what if I’m wrong?” and why you absolutely must own a solar/battery powered radio. Really.

Listen to Ep. 341: Ready or Not: Curiosity & Emergency Preparedness, with Davyne Dial

Davyne Dial is the General Manager of WPVM 103.7 FM, Radio Asheville. As she says, “when the lights go out and phones go dead, radio is your lifeline.” Check out WPVM’s emergency preparedness resources. (She recommends this solar-powered radio.)

Ready.gov offers emergency preparedness tips and tools to help you plan ahead for disaster.

Fun fact: WPVM was the first station outside my own community to pick up this show. I am forever grateful. 🙂

Morbid curiosity is our very human desire to learn about dangerous, threatening, or unpleasant stuff — things like death, violence or injury. It can come in handy when things go sideways. Learn more in this curiosity conversation: Morbid Curiosity, with Coltan Scrivner.

Just how morbidly curious are you? Try this assessment.

For more on pondering alternatives, check out: What If? Counterfactual Curiosity, with Lily FitzGibbon. And for a different twist on morbid curiosity: Morbid Curiosity & Conspiracy Theories, with Joe Stubbersfield.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Well Water” by The Bulwark, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to Be Curious on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.