Disaster with the preps you’ve got

Does anyone else look at their current situation and figure out if it’s a good or a bad day for a disaster?

Let me explain. Some days you are better able to handle a disaster than others. Ideally, when a disaster strikes, you are prepared for it. All your gear and stored food is in order. Your emergency systems have been tested and are in place. If you have a generator, it’s been recently serviced and there’s fresh fuel stored. Physically everyone in your family is in great shape. Yep, that would be a good day for a disaster.

In the real world, it’s sometimes not so perfect. Disaster may hit when your leg is in a cast, your wife is eight and half months pregnant, and for some strange reason there’s only half a roll of toilet paper in the house. That would be bad.

So what do you do? You do your best with the cards you are dealt. Maybe you’ve been dipping in your preps because you are out of work due to that broken leg. Then the ice storm hits, taking down power and blocking the roads. Believe me, that’s exactly how it goes sometimes.

Preppers often make some bad assumptions. The first one is that they think they can store enough supplies to survive anything. Nobody can do that. You might have enough food and supplies for forty years. Then twenty relatives you can’t turn away drop by to stay . . . and a flood or fire ruins the bulk of your stored supplies.

Another assumption is that nothing bad will ever happen to them -because they are special or something, I guess.

The third big assumption is that they’ll be able to lone wolf their way out of trouble and pull themselves up by their boot straps.

So what does one do? Having some stored food and supplies is prudent. However, you should also be prepared to garden, hunt, fish, gather, trade, and adapt.

Accept that bad things could happen to you when you are poorly prepared. Most of the survival game is mental. It’s not about stuff as much as it is about attitude and skills.

Most importantly, don’t be a lone wolf. Be a wolf pack. Have a group and be willing to both give and accept help.

-Sixbears