A couple years ago I was fortunate enough to take an entire month off from work, time I spent just laying around the house being lazy, grudgingly completing a few chores for my wife or doing pretty much whatever I felt like doing. I never set my alarm during that time because I just woke up when my eyes opened in the morning. I worked out every day but that only consumed an hour or two of my time. I tooled around in the garage, played video games, plucked at my guitar, surfed the Internet and spent the majority of my time in gym shorts and an old T Shirt. It only took about a week before I started losing my mind. My man cave became a prison and I started looking for things to occupy my ever restless mind. A sample day meant waking up around 9am followed by a workout, then mow the yard , wash the cars by hand, go for a run, wash the dishes and realize that I’d only burned through a total of 4 hours. I still had 2/3 of the day left and I couldn’t spend it all playing Xbox! That month off from work was an experiment which I never want to repeat.
Now imagine yourself in a post Sh*t Hits The Fan situation. Many people romanticize about this return back to the simple life, with Johnny and Mary feeding the critters and picking veggies while Pa chops wood and goes hunting, and Ma grinds wheat and starts building the base for her rabbit stew. That might be the reality for a precious few who are already off the grid and living like that. More than likely for you it will be a vastly different scenario.
Let’s assume you are already prepared in that you have a decent supply of all the main essentials on hand. Food, water, ways to filter water, a garden and all of the other supplies I discuss on this page. You will not be going to work and you probably will not be driving the mini van to the gym in the early afternoon. In many cases there could be intermittent power or no power at all so watching television and playing video games is out. Your basic survival type household chores would need to be done but even those will not demand all of your time. Some people fantasize about fighting off wandering hoards of armed looters from their sandbagged windows but I can tell you the likely hood of that happening every day all day is few and far between. This begs the question, what will you and your family do to keep from going stir crazy? Are you prepared to fight not hoards of looters, but boredom?
Preppers are often very meticulous when it comes to sorting out the big things. Gathering up the essential items, building storage spaces for said items and conducting frequent inventories when preparing for some sort of catastrophic event. Yet getting tunnel vision and overlooking the little things, while not necessarily life threatening, could have a serious impact on morale over a long term survival situation. I would suggest looking into alternative forms of entertainment to keep yourself and family busy. Stock up on books, board games, games that can be played outside in the yard. Crossword puzzles and other mentally stimulating/problem solving tools are also essential in staying sharp. Finally some good sturdy workout equipment is a definite must have in any survival situation. Sitting around in your body armor all day won’t keep you from looking like a bag of goo, so investing in some simple workout equipment is crucial. A small assortment of dumbbells, workout bands, a jump rope and a floor mat are all you would need to put in a good 30 minutes a day of sweat inducing activities.
The takeaway here is that you should keep an open mind and always explore ways to improve your position with regards to prepping for the uncertain. Discuss what you have on hand with your family or do more research online and see what others are doing. Imagine realistic scenarios that could happen in your area and how you might react. Adjust your plan accordingly and always strive to develop a well rounded plan which incorporates the big and little (often overlooked) items. Good luck and happy prepping.
Recent Comments