In the last post, I went over some thoughts on the principle of Don’t Freak Out. In this post I’ll dig into the second principle – Get Focused.
Focus is where I’ve seen so many people fail, myself included. In my early days of prepping, I would get a thought in my head and there would be an almost incontinent response. This could be anything; spending a bunch of money (at least in comparison to my income) on stuff I had no idea how to use, reading a blurb on the perfect survival tool and ordering one only to realize it was some cheap knock-off, or binge-watching zombie movies to determine the most effective way of dispatching a zombie, you know, because that WILL be the most likely survival scenario you’ll find yourself in. Without some sort of focus, you’ll waste lots of time chasing down random ideas that often times end in more confusion. To get focused, you have to start small.
Think of a pebble thrown into a pond. When the pebble hits the water, it creates ripples that continually spread out bigger and further away. This is your preparedness meter. The ripple way out at the edges of the pond is that big EMP you are worried about. You are the pebble. There are a LOT of stages in between. Start with the pebble. Some people may say “That’s just selfish. You’re only thinking about yourself.” It’s not selfish at all. You cannot take care of someone else if you cannot take care of yourself. You are either going to be an asset or a liability. Choosing to be a liability to someone else is selfish. Make yourself an asset. Start by taking care of the things that immediately affect your own survival and preparedness. Then, go to that next ripple, your immediate family. Then the next ripple, and the next, and the next. You decide what those different stages include. Who you want to include and what you want to accomplish at each stage is entirely up to you.
Don’t start preparing for the looming zombie apocalypse. Start with the life-events that effect your life regularly. For example, In 2020 a couple of big things occurred that made me realize the my own prepping had gotten a little out of focus from where it had been the year or two before. For starters, the Great COVID Toilet-Paper Shortage started early in the year. I had several rolls (probably around 12) at the house when I stated hearing about toilet paper becoming rarer than a unicorn. I thought it was ridiculous, there’s no way toilet paper would disappear before other essentials. Oh how wrong I was. My supply got scarily low before I could start finding small, rationed packs of the cheapest toilet paper made. Lesson learned, as soon as my chosen brand became available I built up a backstock to keep in reserve. Then, later in the summer came the hurricanes in the gulf coast. Despite living well off the coast, these storms had major impacts to my area. I was without power for nine days just from the damage to power lines in my area. Although there was no direct storm damage to my house, there were plenty of other effects that had to be dealt with; frozen foods had to be relocated and refrigerated foods were lost. Pets had to be taken care of daily despite having to travel 25-30 miles from where I was staying until power returned. Stores ran out of fuel for days at a time and lines were LONG when a store actually had fuel to sell.
2021 continued the lessons to be learned in big ways. The ice storm that pounded the south in February confined me to my house for an entire week. Road conditions prevented anyone without a 4-wheel drive vehicle with knobby tires, or those with an atv from getting out on the roads. The only reason grocery store had any food on the shelves was because very few people could get to them. Stores were closed because employees couldn’t travel to work. I made a nearly 20 mile round-trip to the store to pick up a few small items and just to see what the “world” was like. Fuel storage became a standing practice.
These are just a few examples of the things that can directly impact a person’s life. Start with the issues you deal with daily (weather, food, transportation, etc.), then weekly, and so on and so on. Start looking into your own personal protection, your own fitness, your own financial preparedness and get them in order. There are simple things you can address RIGHT NOW that will have you better prepared for tomorrow than you were yesterday. Other things will be ongoing processes. Once you have dealt with the things that directly impact you, step out to the next “ripple” and work toward doing the same for those in your immediate family. Don’t get caught up on the possible, work on the probable.
In the next post we will build on the third principle of developing a plan. I hope you’ll continue reading. Please feel free to leave comments.
