However some people get easily carried away with this prepping thing, cuz, you know, the apocalypse is right around the corner. Right? Okay, probably not realistically speaking.
That's really what it's all about. What's real and what's perceived or feared. Fear, is the mind killer, someone said.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― "Litany Against Fear" Frank Herbert, Dune
All of this kind of stuff is just risk analysis. It requires a study in the dynamics of that kind of thing. If you live in the wrong place in the Middle East right now, having prepped for bad times is probably a good thing. Except, someone more powerful will probably come along and take it, and possibly kill you first. But if you live in the UK or America, just how important is it to be so ready at the drop of a hat, to deal with no infrastructure, no food, no water no security?
Let's say you prep full out, you have your guns, maybe even a truck loaded with everything you'll need to "bug out" and hit the trails, running for the high ground, or some secluded areas you know about where you would expect to find very few in the case of a national degeneration of the government.
What if then, as you're "heading for the hills" as fast as you ccan, someone simply takes it all from you?
After all in having all that stuff, to anyone else who has no qualms about taking from others if they had a mortal need for what other have and they don't, you'd then simply be turned into a target. All your work over all that time, possibly years of acquiring things, all the money you would have spent, all of that labor and financial expense would simply turn out to have just been a hobby.
Let's say you prep your home for disaster and then finally one day, it strikes. Someone bursts into your home. They don't harm you but they take all your goods. Then all that money, effort, scrimping and storing would all go for naught.
Or let's say you do not do any prep. Maybe you die first. Or maybe someone takes you in and makes you a part of their family and you survive just fine. Maybe you are head of a family and you are responsible for others, especially children. So then you'd want to be more prepared than if you lived alone or didn't have any dependents. What then?
I look at all this like a fire drill.
What really makes sense? Well, it makes sense to know a way out of a burning building and to talk to your kids about it, to do a run through with them Because it's been proven that practicing something decreases fear and mistakes during an actual crisis. Even POWs have shown to handle their situation in captivity if they first have had POW training and experienced a mock up of what it would or could be like and have some examples of how to handle things under those conditions.
That gets down to experience and skillsets. Is it better to give someone food, or teach them to fish, as they say? Food lasts until it is gone. But knowing how to get more can sustain you for good.
That's how I look at all this.
If all the grocery stores are out of food, if the power grid goes down for a month along with the water system, what happens to you? What would you have available, both in your home and without? Nearby. Far away. What are your resources? Sometimes remote is better than nearby. These are the questions you need to answer, before tragedy strikes because once it does, it's too late.
We all tend to have some back stock in our home. But how much and how well do you rotate your back stock?
For myself I really don't need to go to a Costco type store more than every couple of weeks, or longer sometimes. Once in a while I will stretch it out longer just to use up what I have and clear out any older stuff and then rebuild. Though I do go in between locally for some minor things as unforeseen issues crop up.
What therefore would be MY concerns? I should probably address and have on hand at least a modicum of back stock or knowledge of where I can replenish supplies. But I also need to know where it's guaranteed to be if I need it. Otherwise, I need it to exist within my home.
We need to at least think over all this and consider it ahead of time.
And maybe do something about it. Whatever it is you would need to do. Watch survival movies. Horror movies are also actually good to watch in order to put you in a mind set for this kind of thing. They are not all good for this kind of thing but some are and some are better than others.
Because if the worst happens, you may find you have no idea what you will need, or what you might end up going through, or what preparation could or should have been done ahead of time.
Just don't go nuts over it. But give it some pre-consideration and do take some steps toward being self sufficient. The government suggests to have a couple of weeks of goods stored up should some disaster strike. In the US we have the National Guard and FEMA to help during your basic national disaster situation but as we've seen in the past in hurricane and earthquake disasters with flooding and roads being washed out, assistance doesn't always get to you in a timely fashion.
You may need at least for a while to be able to protect you and yours, to supply your family with sustenance in order to survive until help arrives or if they never do, so that you can become self sufficient in a new way. One without stores, without money, without supplies or a supply chain. You may have to deal with others trying to take from you what is yours. You may find you are taking care of others you had never foreseen you might have to take care of.
These are all things you have to think about before it is too late.
You may know how to get out of your house should it catch on fire at 2AM, but do you know how to get away from your house, your neighborhood, your city, should you ever need to? Do you know where safe zones would be to get away from the public?
If you try to get out of town do you know the fastest route? The fastest route when all the roads are gridlocked, or damaged? The ways out of town on foot if need be? Places to hole up during the journey either on foot or in a vehicle?
Perhaps waiting till the roads free up would be best way to go. Perhaps the longer you take getting out of town, the more dangerous the urban areas get as there become fewer and fewer people around.Do you leave town for open or closed areas? High altitude or low areas, near or far from large bodies of water?
Know your territory. Know your options, so that you have options.
In many cases seeking out the public would actually be the way to go as those are where the National Guard and others will seek to locate and supply. But if things were to go horribly wrong, you may need to avoid those areas say in the event of severe contagion and a lack of inoculations or medical care.
The point of all this is, disaster is not just a sci fi show on TV, or a horror film. Things do happen. But they do not happen all the time and so to live expecting it is questionable. As they say, plan for the worst hope for the best and live accordingly.
Learn a few skills that require no electricity, like how to live off the land. A weapon is handy be it a gun, a bow and arrows (and practice using them), a sword even or just a sharp stick. There are always weapons at hand with a little alteration.
Have at least a few of the right books and not an ipad with ebooks on it as no electricity can mean no ebooks. Books on basic medical procedures in the field, on survival, hunting, how to pick food in a forest. During a disaster where you may have to hide from other people, know your accessible forests, caves, and so on.
Places that are good for hiding in. The more viable supplies, potable (drinkable) water is good but it's not going to last that long anyway and really is, as many don't realize, just there to get you through till your government arrives or if they never do, aides you through that transition period of going from a monied economy to a barter, or self sufficient one.
In the end, should something ever happen, DON'T PANIC! Act.
What's the best way to avoid panic? It's to have considered whatever can happen before hand. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.
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