Sunday, January 5, 2014

Beginners Practical Prepping Volume 1 – Mental Preparedness

I get a lot of question about both my sanity and my plan from my non-prepper friends. Some think this is a fad like my computer gaming fad or my sports car fad, but I truly think those other moments were me distracting myself from what I know is coming to our shores. Escapes from the reality of a bigger than me problem. I truly believe it's a matter of when, not a matter of if the Proverbial Stuff Hits the Fan (SHTF).

So the question I always ask them in return when they question my mental state is "What if you are right and I am wrong?" "What have I "lost" by having extra food and ammo in my basement?"

I get the usual of money allocation to 401Ks and planning for retirement and family vacations etc etc etc. I typically respond with I am still doing those things as well, but I also have a budget for buying supplies for the SHTF situation. Should things go bad, a 401K is not going to do me much good, should things not go bad, I can still eat the food in my basement.

This usually leads to a discussion about starting to prep which leads to a "what do I buy first" kind of discussion. Do I start buying food, water? Solar Panels? Mountain houses? Where???

There is a lot of information out there on the "hows" and such of prepping, but I haven't come across a road map per se that fits what I believe to be three most important aspects of prepping. In my estimation the three crucial to survival in any worst case scenario are Mental Prepping (This article), Physical Prepping (next week's blog) and Stockpiling (the final blog in this series).

What is Mental Prepping?

First, you need to be mentally prepared for the scenario you are facing. That means simply getting your mind ready and adjusted quickly to acclimate to the problem you are facing. High stress, fatigue, fear, and the unknown will kill more people that water shortages or gun fire in a breakdown scenario. Knowing what to do and being mentally prepared to do it can and will save your life. This is the easiest of the three for me. I am a little off kilter anyways so mental prepping is something I am continually doing.

Look at all the scenarios that could cause catastrophic meltdown of society and you see one underlying problem, we build our sense of security on the punishment of crime versus the prevention of crime. What if citizens took their own lives, safety and security into their own hands and looked only to themselves to solve problems and end bad situations? What if there were no police to call or groceries to visit? This is what would happen in a meltdown situation.

We need to be mentally prepared to take matters into our own hands and protect what is ours. We need to be mentally prepared to walk home from work quickly and efficiently without knowing your family is safe in the case of a grid down or EMP situation. This type of mental preparation will save your life.

How do we do this? Look for situations and ask yourself WWID (what would I do) if something bad happened right now. Think like a truly evil and vile person trying to harm you and your family and run the scenarios thru your mind and come up with multiple plans to handle those situation.

I will give you one for free.

Think about a home invasion scenario where you are sitting on the couch and 3 large men come crashing thru your door. What is the first thing you do? Do you run? Do you try to get the phone and call 911?

Quickly now! You only have 7 seconds between life and death. Ask yourself: WWID?

Don't think that is a realistic scenario in your neighborhood? Ask Pam Williams about that… http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/24150030/community-seeks-clues-in-fatal-home-invasion#axzz2pWUhvorb

Mental prepping simply involves getting ready and planning for the worst case scenarios. Tough decisions and actions will be required of you if you want to survive.

Here is today's homework:

  1. Make a list of 5 realistic real life situations that you can do something about. Zombies and nuclear bombs on your home town are not what I would start with but it's your plan.
  2. Brainstorm 5 ways to handle each situation from full on assault planning to running for your life.
  3. Revisit best/worst case scenarios for your 5 solutions (everything from "winning the life lottery" to ending up in the news as a statistic)
  4. Make a plan to practice the scenarios mentally often (I run worst case scenarios all the time, matter of fact I just did a home invasion one while I was typing this)
  5. Do something to eliminate or reduce the ending up dead part for your family. Having a plan GREATLY reduces the ending up a statistic part of the equation.

The bad guys have a plan for you. What is your plan for them?

Sunday, December 29, 2013

All I needed to know about prepping I learned from the 3 Bears…

The tale of the Three Bears is one that still terrifies me deep down inside to this day. It has shaped and defined much of my thinking since I can recall hearing it for the first time. Sounds crazy right? Let me explain a bit deeper for you.
We all know the tale of poor little Goldie Locks and typically side with her struggle of hunger and exhaustion.
The original story was not even about a little girl, but instead an old woman. There are many reason why the story was changed that I might get into sometime but for now let's use the common story about the little girl.
Let's also consider the tale from the bear's angle:
Imagine yourself as Momma or Poppa Bear with your little Baby Bear. You have foraged and worked exhaustively to provide for your family's needs, giving them shelter, providing a meal and creating a loving environment.
One day you cook up a pot of porridge with a pot you bought and spoons you bought and crops you planted, nurtured, and harvested but the meal was a little too warm to eat. You decide a nice family walk until dinner cools some would be just the thing to strength the constitution right?
You live in a nice suburban neighborhood with great neighbors that walk their dogs each evening and no real crime to speak of so why should you worry about locking your door? Why should you worry about protecting your family? It's a nice neighborhood right?
The thing you don't consider is the thing that could get your property taken, your breakfast stolen and even cost you your life. All property rights are only as strong as the force used to protect them. Sounds violent? Think of this:
If the bank wants to take your home, how will they do it? If the finance company want to repossess your car, how will they do it? If the government wants to take land from a citizen under Eminent Domain, how will they proceed?
What if I don't want my house foreclosed on? My only recourse is to pay my mortgage and hope the bank keeps their end of the bargain or litigate right? That is the "civilized" way isn't it? What if there is a mistake at the finance company and the Repo man comes knocking? What recourse do we have? What if tyrannical government decides to use Eminent Domain to make you move and build apartments on your homestead?
So back to the bears and Goldie.
So the bears go for a walk and enjoy the outdoors and the company. They talk about all sorts of frivolous and fun things never once considering that someone is stealing their property. Never once considering that someone might be in their house defiling their security. Ask anyone that has ever had their home broken into how it feels and you will get a better understand of the violation that was coming to the bears.
Goldie Locks was no dumb child. She peeped in windows scouting out the situation, she looked thru the key hole, and she was probably casing the house waiting for the opportune time to take what she had not worked for. Sound like our society yet?
So Goldie comes into the bears' castle, starts not only eating their food (spitting it on the floor because she was too good for what the common bear ate), she then takes to making herself at home, lounging in chairs (again thinking herself better than the people that bought and paid for the furniture) trashing the poor kid's chair.
If that were only the end...
Our antagonist (at least in my mind) then decides that the food and furniture wasn't enough, she needs a nap after her day of plundering and pillaging other people's property (I have my theories on this not being the first house she entered but that's a story for another time).
Dad's bed was too high, Mom's too low, but again the kid suffers.
Goldie jumps in the bed without regard not even removing her muddy shoes! THE NERVE!!!
So we all know the rest of the story. The Bears come home, find the house trashed and the girl in the baby's bed. They growl and get angry and the girl runs away, never to return.
The moral I took away from the story when I first heard it as a child?

 

It isn't yours unless you can protect it.