This is Optimal Living Daily. Planning for the Fire by Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle.com,

and I'm your host, narrator and commentator, Justin Mollock. And we're going to get right to it as we

optimize your life.

Planning for the fire by Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle.com.

There's something wrong with the fire detection system in my apartment building.

In the five months since I moved to Memphis, we've had probably 20 false alarms,

the siren in the hallway just outside my flat, blaring and enduring, ear-shattering sonic pulse each time.

After a week in which nearly every day was accompanied by such an alarm,

I reached a point where I considered just ignoring it, covering my ears and doing my best to carry on.

Each time, though, I thought about how much it would suck if this time it was real.

How stupid I would feel in my final moments if I had had the chance to escape, but didn't, because it was inconvenient.

And so I came to meet some of my neighbors by sight and through commiseration, if not by name.

We met while helping each other carry crying toddlers and toddler accessories down the skinny stairwells.

We stood together in the parking lot, our heads tilted upward, eyes checking windows,

each of us looking for evidence indicating that this time the fire might be real.

I think most people would opt for oversensitive smoke detectors over no smoke detectors at all. After the initial frantic

moments of properly clothing myself, grabbing the essentials, locking up my apartment, and fast

walking down nine flights of stairs, I'd remind myself of that. If there's ever a fire, I'm good.

I know I'll hear the alarm and I'll sure as hell know what to do.

I know exactly how much time it'll take me to get downstairs and out the front lobby doors.

I feel pretty well trained at this point.

There's a mental exercise many of us have conducted with varying levels of seriousness that centers around rushing out the door in the event of a fire.

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