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Disaster X
My personal experience as the appointed one in my local congregation is there are several levels of inertia that must be over come.
1 It won’t / can’t happen here. This is the number one hurdle. Vast majority have levels of this in their minds.2. Ok…where do I start if I have overcome 1.
3. I can’t do it all myself. This is where many of are. And yes you are right one person can’t do it all. This is why people gravitate towards others who are parallel thinkers.
If any out here are reading this please feel free to toss in your two cents.
I find prep is a mindset and a journey. Many dont have a method of assessment of where they are, or a road map of where they need to go or how they are going to get there.
I’ve spent much of my young adulthood as a planner via my first career in the military. During this time I discovered:
People often have capacity or capability they don’t realize. Part of professional development as an officer is the study of history, not just military history. We can learn much through this.I will continue this discussion if others want to join in.
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I think it was Daisy who posted a thread about acceptance of a given situation.
I think preppers are a different sort when compared to the average American. We seem to be more capable of accepting of a situation, likely because we sit around mulling what everyone else thinks of as impossible.
And we post about it!The first year I had goats, I tried an experiment: Could I make my own hay, with nothing but hand tools.
I got 90 days worth of hay. Not enough to get me through the whole winter. But I had bales of hay that I bought left over.
Now, with the cows and rabbits, I am going to need my neighbors to help if the livestock are to make it through the winter.
And, if my neighbors want to eat the following year something other than tubers.
Note: This is assuming fuel is gone, the tractors are lawn ornaments.Concerning assessment, I was a intelligence analyst in the Marines. No jokes please!
Based off the facts or evidence present at the time:
What do we know?
What do we not know?
What do we think? Note this is where people tend to go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Dont go there.
What is the best course of action?
What is the worst course of action?
What is the most likely course of action?
What is the least likely course of action?
What is the most dangerous course of action?From those answers, develop a short, mid and long term plan. But the plan needs to be flexible to accommodate new information, new situations, or obstacles.
Look around for assets and liabilities. This could be everything from equipment to people. There are good people in a community. And there are those who are toxic.
Leadership. Some people lead. Some follow. Identify the leaders now.
Are you a leader?
Would you follow someone else? -
A mindset that I have noticed I must overcome when encouraging others is that preparedness is “depressing” and “pessimistic.” Of course, I think it’s the complete opposite. I am greatly comforted by knowing what to do in the event of an emergency, which means, of course, that I function better during that emergency.
Getting this across to others is tough, but I plug away at it a little bit at a time. I find that using lots of real life examples helps. “What would you do if” can be useful too, when compared to something in the news. I try to make it accessible instead of this huge overwhelming thing.
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AnonymousWhat I find interesting is how the whole prepping idea is getting demonized but we have plenty of examples of equivalent accepted behaviors that are praised as prudent and sought for.
You should have a good health insurance, right? But if you stock a few drugs and learn about basic health care practice you’re nut.
You insure your house but is you stock tools and building material to repair it yourself you’re nut.
It is a good practice to have a few months of living expenses in your saving account. But if you store a few months worth of food to live on, you’re nut.
You hire a security company to protect your house. But if you have a shotgun under your bad you’re nut.
Sometimes I think prepping is talked down because if everyone would do it, some businesses and the government would be hurt.
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Dark Future,
I think that “preparing” falls outside most people’s normalcy bias.
Ignoring or denying it alows them to get through the day without taking responsibility for their actions and lives.My grandparents were preppers though I seriously doubt that they would have considered themselves as such. Being children of the depression, they naturally saved money, used items until they wore out, put food back from the garden and the like.
But todays focus is not the same as theirs. Nor their parents. Its a different place. Their “normal” isn’t ours.
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@Whirlbird,
Great observation.
My neighbors, whom are in their late 60s early 70s can recall life before indoor plumbing or electricity in their homes.
They were preppers before the term even came about.
And they still are. -
Anonymous@whirlibird, my observation above derives from me talking to a person about the recent hurricanes. This guy started telling me how he was concerned about the possibility of Big One, or him becoming ill and not able to provide for his family. He went on telling me about is plan: more insurance policies I can count, investment plans, and some more. So a question popped up in my mind? Is this guy a prepper? He surely is concerned about the future. He’s surely trying to do something to mitigate the consequences of what can come. He is thinking ahead, not living in the moment. What is missing is that his plan relies on others to be fulfilled.
That chat made me think that there might be many more people who could be open to a different lifestyle but they are led to solutions that are more friendly to businesses than to them.
And we could actually start a conversation about what prepper even means. Is a self-reliant person a prepper? Is someone who obsess about the future a prepper? Or is the crazy guy from the tv shows? I do not really think I am doing anything extraordinary in my life. I just live it based on my experience and on the observed experience of others. I grow my garden because I like it and because my veggies taste better than the one in the store. I protect my property because the cops are always minutes away when seconds count. I store supplies because I know what high inflation means. Am I a prepper? Don’t know; it is just little silly me.
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