When Preparation Feels Difficult: “The Go-bag”

There has been a lot of conversation about preparing a “go-bag.”
On the surface, it seems like a practical task, something that can be organized, planned, and completed.

Yet, for many people, it doesn’t feel that simple.

Certain items like documents, clothes, a first aid kit, are often easy to think about. They remain within a space of structure and control. But at some point, like adding basic hygiene and food the meaning of the exercise can shift. What begins as preparation can start to feel like something else.

In those moments, the task is no longer only about logistics. It can bring up a deeper recognition: that there are situations where support may not be immediately available, and where one may need to rely, at least temporarily, on their own capacity.

This shift can activate what psychoanalytic literature describes as annihilation anxiety which is a fear that goes beyond specific dangers and touches on the experience of being left alone with something that feels too much to hold.

Alongside this, a process known as psychic equivalence can emerge, where thinking about a possibility starts to feel as though it makes it real. Preparation may begin to feel less like a precaution and more like an acceptance of a world in which help is absent.

From a Donald Winnicott perspective, this can be understood as a disruption in the sense of a holding environment: the expectation that there is someone there to support and contain experience. Similarly, from a Wilfred Bion perspective, the difficulty may lie in imagining oneself as the only container for overwhelming emotions, without another presence to share and process them.

When these layers come together, it can become difficult to stay in a thinking space. The mind may move quickly from planning to overwhelm.

Seen this way, the challenge is not about avoiding reality. It is about the limits of what can be taken in at once. Acknowledging that uncertainty exists is one thing; being able to tolerate what that acknowledgment evokes internally is another.

A more gentle approach may involve separating preparation from the meanings attached to it. Preparation does not have to imply isolation or the absence of others. It can be understood as a way of supporting oneself, while still holding on to the expectation that connection and support exist.

In this sense, preparing is not only a practical act.
It is also a psychological process one that involves finding a way to stay grounded, think clearly, and remain connected, even when facing uncertainty.