A Few Principles of Prepping
Know what you’re preparing for.
Planning and making preparations for potential disasters and threats can be quite the rabbit-hole. There’s no limit to just how many terrible scenarios the mind can conjure; each one requiring its own subset of resources, plans of action, and training – and all of this requires massive amounts of time and money. As working men with families and duties of our own, we simply don’t have the capacity to achieve a “prepared state” for all conceivable hardships and battles. Knowing that we cannot possibly be prepared for everything, we must understand what threats and disasters we are most likely to encounter and plan accordingly.
Without conducting a thorough threat assessment, you’ll be forced into one of two paths: be oblivious to the threats that surround you or be constantly on-guard and suspicious of everyone and everything. The former is not a way of life that the warrior embraces, but the latter is just as deficient. Living within society and behaving as if everyone is a potential assassin and spending every dollar you make stocking-up for doomsday will rapidly exhaust you, physically, mentally, and financially. Instead, take an hour or two and put together a comprehensive threat assessment as it concerns your particular situation. Get to know your environment, both at home and work. Check your local crime maps and sex offender registry. Do you live in tornado alley or is flooding your more probable threat? Do you have an occupation that creates enemies? Do you know anything about your neighbors? How close is the nearest hospital? By understanding your surroundings and how you interact with it, you can better estimate your most likely threats and optimize your limited resources in preparing for them.
Form some daily habits.
Contrary to popular thought, most of us are more likely to face dangers in our day-to-day lives than in some dramatic apocalyptic event. Beneath all the apparent order that manifests in civil society lies many dark crevices of chaos that one can slip into at any moment. So before the prepper considers potential doomsday scenarios, he must first recognize the daily demons that lurk in the shadows of his casual existence.
For instance, if you have enough ammunition to supply WW3 and enough non-perishable food to last through a nuclear holocaust but you don’t wear your seatbelt when you drive and you can’t walk up the stairs without losing your breath, then you’re completely missing the point of prepping. It doesn’t do you any favors to prep for events of an astronomical scale if you’re not even prepared for surviving daily encounters.
A few tips to get you started:
1. Get in shape and eat right – don’t treat your body like a human trashcan.
2. Learn emergency medicine and have medical kits staged appropriately.
3. WEAR YOUR SEATBELT.
4. Scan your surroundings before exiting your vehicle.
5. Maintain at least a half-tank of fuel in your vehicle.
6. Carry some EDC (gun, knife, med-kit, flashlight, etc.)
7. Look for entry/exit points whenever you enter a room.
8. When someone appears threatening, watch their hands, not their eyes.
9. Walk confidently and with a sense of purpose – studies have shown that you’re far less likely to be selected by an aggressor by doing so.
10. Make preparation a part of your lifestyle, not just a hobby.
One size doesn’t fit all.
There’s lots of prepper gurus, TV shows, and YouTube channels that have all sorts of advice and suggestions on how to effectively prepare for any event. Some of them are worth listening to – most are not. In any case, what one must consider when seeking out the counsel of others is that everyone’s situation is unique and as such, require their own peculiar needs.
Before embarking on this journey of preparation, which if done properly will actually require a change in your lifestyle, begin by starting small. Give yourself an honest evaluation of your capabilities and vulnerabilities. Create a modest budget for your prepping resources. Take time every week to advance your knowledge and skills. Overtime, you will learn the subtle nuances of your own life and better understand what you, and perhaps only you, need to do in order to reach a prepared state.
Nil Desperandum.
