Sep132011
Preparedness mindset 2: We have about a year…
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Believe it or not, I’m not a worrywart, and in spite of all my research and preparing, I still like to dawdle. Whenever my back isn’t to the wall, whenever I don’t have a deadline, that’s what I do. Dawdle.
Last week I was talking with a new prepper friend, and she made the comment, “I think we have about a year before everything collapses.” Just a few days later I received an email from someone who voiced the same sentiment. “I think we have until next summer to prepare and then things will fall apart in the fall.”
Is this some kind of prophecy?
Now, neither of these people are prophets nor do I believe they have any inside information. What they do have, is a deadline in mind, and it’s propelling them to work steadfastly toward being prepared. This, I’ve realized, has been one of my shortcomings. With world and national events on a continual rollercoaster, it’s been hard to gauge just how much time we have to prepare, so I’ve reverted to my natural state of … dawdling! I guess it’s my default setting!
image by Pearl Mountain
So, here’s my tip for maintaining a preparedness mindset. Prepare as though you have about one year to be ready. Ready for what? Well, for some people, you’ll be ready just in time for the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012. Others believe our economy is in non-stop spiral downward and next fall is when we’ll see the stock market plummet, for good. Whatever it is you’re planning for, keep this time frame in mind.
The dilemma of living in two worlds
This may sound obvious, to prepare for hard times, but preppers live in two worlds. We live in a world where not much has changed. People are still shopping, eating out, going to work, doing laundry and paying bills. It’s this world that attracts so much of our attention because, let’s face it. We do have to go grocery shopping and get to the job each morning. That laundry isn’t going to take care of itself and those darn bills had better be paid, or else!
However, our second world keeps us focused, in part, on dangerous current events around the world, the price of gold and silver, and gauging about how much time we have until the S, however you define it, hits the fan. It’s in this world that we learn how to store and purify water, the legality of using concertina wire around our homes, and keeping track of the stockpile of ammo!
Trying to stay focused on both worlds, is no easy task. In order to be prepared for what is to come, we have to walk a tightrope between these two worlds, and having a goal in mind may be just the thing to keep you moving along and staying balanced. So, prepare as though you have about one year. And try not to dawdle, or worry!
© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(24) Readers Comments
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Paula
Love this post. I find myself getting off track way too much. But I am getting better about setting mini goals. Wanted to make sure I had certain things done by 9/11 (filled propane tank, more meat canned, more personal hygiene items in storage). Now, by the end of October I hope to have a few more things dehydrated. I plan on learning to use my solar oven and, of course, more food on the shelf.
Paul at PFP
This time around experts are saying that the collapse will be started in Europe and domino around the world. Be prepared for more inflation before the total collapse of the dollar adn every other currency.
New to your site. Fantastic info.
millenniumfly
There's no doubt I feel like I lead a double-life… you just admit it!
dixiebelle
I find a deadline/ timeframe on this sort of thing just puts the panic into me, rather than lighting the fire under me! It makes me feel overwhelmed and frozen. If I can just go on preparing in our own 'Survironmentalist' way, we can get things accomplished without the stress… maybe not as much stuff will be prepared (and certainly not like most of your readers would be) but developing a mental stamina is just as important to me.
Debbie
This post describes me exactly! Thank you for sharing it, as somehow it helps me to focus. I am brand new to the world of prepping, and feel as if my mind is divided. How do I focus on every day when there is so much to do for tomorrow? Today is very powerful.
Lynda
Staying balanced is key. I can't venture a guess as to a complete collapse and when or if it will happen.
One thing that keeps me inspired is watching videos on Youtube about the Great Depression. There are a fair amount of interviews with those who lived through this time. Watching them tell their stories, what they had to do in order to survive and their "right stuff" attitude keeps things in perspective for me.
I post these regularly on my own blog in hopes that others will be as inspired as I am.
MaryB in GA
Double life, definitely!
EmilySurvives
New to the site- my husband is a prepper so I am a prepper by default. I am loving your entries. Thanks. I feel WAY less alone living my double life.
reliancesurvivalsupply
This is so true. My husband and I have been slowly stocking up for the past 5 years and something tells me that we have one more year. This has been my goal. We are in the process of buying a sturdy log home with a finished basement and one car garage within the basement. We are using the one car garage area for all of our supplies. We have planned to store bug out bags, MRE's, firearms, ammo, water, fuel, and survival supplies in this room in the case of a get out quick situation. The garage door is a double door with a Katy Lock and is easily accessible from the driveway. All we would need to do at that point is back our jeep in, throw all of our gear in, and away we go. Not only is it important to have all the necessary supplies, but it is just as important to have them easily accessible for a quick out situation. The sooner you get out, the sooner you can begin getting anything left in the grocery stores and pharmacies.
MasterPo
A lot of commentators and pundits, as well as now more economists and market watchers, are saying 6-12 month time frame for "something big" to happen. It does feel like waiting for the proverbial second shoe to drop.
Who knows.
Abia The Cat
I'm getting ready for a major financial crunch here in the USA by the end of next winter. Buying books from plant and mushroom identifying for food, medicine, or a good cup of hot tea to survival skills like hunting, fishing, trapping to anything else that I'll need to live a little bit better when the USA finally bottoms out before it starts to rise again. Gotta practice, so I'm in the backyard putting into practice what I'm reading. Learning how to find, store and conserve water from the various sources available other than the grid.
NCGardenGirl
This is one of your best articles ever, Lisa! Great insight (living in the "two worlds"), and an excellent tip on setting a deadline.
I'm going to set a deadline to acquire a gun, ammo. Before yesturday, I didn't know enough about guns to buy one, and I didn't want to buy one because I didn't know enough about guns. But, I found a very affordable "Concealed Carry Handgun Class offered by a local police officer and I took it. He gave me the extra help I needed so I could learn how to shoot safely, and the "Concealed Carry Permit" is a nice bonus! I'm looking forward to those gun reviews for women that you've mentioned before, Lisa- I'd love to hear your take before I buy my first gun/s.
ICE
I am a I.C.E federal agent with D.H.S (previously I.N.S) I am required to qualified every three months with my Sig .228 and with a 12 gauge shot gun. In a situation where I would be required to make a deadly force action to save my life I would always choose the 12 gauge shot gun. I believe every home should have one for protection prior to the purchase of a hand gun. They are safer to store in your home if you have children and a person who has limited firearms experience. A shot gun is much more accurate due to its long barrel. And there is nothing that says don’t &%$# with house as the sound it makes as you rack a round into it. I agree that a hand gun is also a good idea but the shot gun in my opinion is the best for home protection. And to the women who don’t think they can handle a shot gun think again, I am a 48 year old grandmother of three and I handle it just fine.
mommyink
Hi im totally new to prepping. Mostly because of my husband thinking om just paranoid. I have 5 kids and two a twin baby girls. I want to be prepared because i to feel we have about a year left. I got my gun license last month and plan to buy a few more guns soon.ive been trying to stock up on pastas and canned foods im just kinda feeling hopeless and behind where i want to be. Living w a person that thinks its all bs dnt help.I also live in nj. We were supposed to move to montanna but that fell threw. i just dnt feel safe here its too close to the coast.
…its hard now to live here cnt imagine next year this time. Anyway i love your page sorry for the spelling lol…im on a cell phone and its touchscreen…i hate it!
Good luck everyone! Godbless
PurpleKJ
I also think you just described me. I dawdle too though when we get to the wet season every year I do pick up the pace in case of cyclones.
I don't tell anyone we prep, I am already the crazy woman, though I do think we all live in many worlds, having many aspects to ourselves that not everyone knows about which makes us normal. Oops can't have that, time to step outside the box
TXSchmoe
Totally agree with the living in two worlds. I think I've got wife on the band wagon, since she just agreed to convert a room upstairs over to storage for food, water, etc. I've been reading a good deal about prepping for about a year, but, like Survival Mom, I've been dawdling. Not anymore. I've got my first shipment arrive this week with stuff for our BOB and some sample freeze dried food to start cooking with.
Guest
"…convert a room upstairs over to storage for food, water etc." Watch out for the weight of the water…most second stories of homes have a limit on the weight per square foot.
miss kitty
Hub and I decided to start prepping as we see the economy in a spiral and the sun is acting up, etc. But other than lay in a bit extra of our normal supplies we haven't really moved forward with enough speed. I think I'm in "dawdle" mode as well. We have plans and ideas but nothing has really gotten implimented. I also think things are going to get bad in the next year. I'm thinkin financial crisis(country wide) or possible EMP. I have made a list of #10 cans I want to order. But that's as far as I've gotten. Lists. LOL Lists won't feed us.
MasterPo
I've been following this "Occupy Wall Street" stuff on Twitter. I've chatted with a few of the protestors.
I hate to say it but I really think Beck was 100% right!!
We are in for a VERY rough year at least!
I think we as a nation are in VERY BIG TROUBLE!! :-O
Bets'
I really dig Beck. I listen to him on the radio daily. FM lost it's charm when I realized that the cookie was crumbling, metaphorically speaking. I became an insane news junkie, which drove all my rose-colored glasses friends away, then doubted that the cookie was crumbling at all, that I was just paranoid, then I pulled myself together and began seriously prepping. It's easy to put it off when life seems normal around you…'seems' being the key here.
In the "One Hour Meltdown", someone mentioned, 'when people like Berneckie come on TV saying it's all good, it's probably not" or something like that. The Fed has been on TV a lot these past months and I've quit putting off things I need to do, like my info packet of documents. And my pantry isn't all grown up yet, but it's gettin' there.
I feel a lot more comfortable knowing I have what I have and feel no sorrow for the foolish doubters, not at this point in the game. I too, think we are in for some very serious tough times ahead.
Mike Carello
New preper and new to this site. I'll be back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tikktok
*sigh* We really need to move somewhere that food will grow. The garden was a bust because of the heat (and probably my lack of growing skills). And then we had a few months where a move looked like a possibility, and I totally fell of the prep wagon. Obviously, I need to get on it….
TheSurvivalMom
When the really hot summer temps hit here in Phoenix, we pretty much forget about our garden, and then, in the fall, we go out to see what survived. I think gardening is part science and part art.
katzien
"Things" and "Life" has gotten in my way the last year. I started off great, then felt a bit more secure and slacked off of my preparations. I let other things become priority, like volunteering and neighborhood projects. I guess we women need to learn when to say 'no' and be sure to save some time, money and energy for what's really important.