The January 10, 2017 show featured
A Look at
Preparedness & Survivalism
vs. Doomsday Prepping
The Public Perception
GL Skye joined Will Hemingway on the PracticePreparedness radio show for a conversation on readiness, preparedness and the state of mind.
Preparedness and Survival requires one to develop a base of knowledge, wisdom, experience, supplies, and gear. Create problem solving is a powerful tool when applied drawing on a deep pool of all of the aforementioned preps. True preparedness is Individualism, Self-Reliance, Skills, Gear, and Experience Driven. It is totally proactive. Doomsday Prepping as it is known is simple minded, short sighted, all your eggs in one basket, fear based panic buying and actions. Do not get sucked up into that game. The only people who gain from that are those exploiting you and taking your hard-earned money.
While no one will ever become totally independent and self-reliant, you can set yourself up in a position where your external needs are significantly less and that you mostly need others for comfort related things than core needs. The common first world country mentality is based upon codependency and consumerism. Adjusting your attitude to an independent, self-reliant approach yields surprising benefits to your happiness and stability. One thing you begin to be acutely aware of is how most people are unable to differentiate between need and want. Of course, in general terms you need air, water, food, clothing, shelter. You want a new computer, a fancy new TV or cellphone. Such an alteration in your paradigm can yield many rewards.
PracticeSurvival.com, PracticePreparedness.com, PracticeSelfReliance.com, Will Hemingway, and the radio show are all intended to foster the growth of your mindset into a self-reliant way of living. Homesteading may be part of it, but you can become more self-reliant even if you live in the city. People who are more self-sufficient and self-reliant tend to be happier, psychologically more stable, and tend to be better members of the community. I often respond to people when they ask about why be self-reliant that if you can’t help yourself, how can you help others? Furthermore, when you really do NEED help how can anyone help when they can’t help themselves?
The other night, I got out of my truck in the parking lot of Walmart to go inside. It was brutally cold with the remnants of a 4” snowfall the day before. There was a woman, in a car with children, and the battery was dead. A mid 50’s man arrived in another car, pulled up and began trying to jump start her car. They had no flashlight (it was dark out). They were not sure which cable went where. I asked if I could help, they said no they were fine. I told them I would wait until I saw them get started. Only a few minutes later, the man asked for help. I pulled out my flashlight, illuminated the area, we put the cables on the correct terminals and she tried to start the car. Nothing happened, even after waiting to build a charge, there was not change. I inspected the cables and they were so thin that they were probably 8 gauge. You would have problems lighting a flood light with that wire, let alone start a cold engine with eight-foot-long cables from another car. I took out my 1200-amp hour jump box, connected it, and it and car started instantly. Problem solved. Easy, quick, painless, efficient. There is no disaster when you are prepared. Simple fact. This experience was fulfilling. I was able to simply, with little effort resolve a problem, test and practice my skills, help my fellow man, and prove my equipment when I was not in trouble. I see this as a win win scenario. If everyone was able to do something for others it would be a much nicer world to live in.