Prepare For the Worst and Hope For the Best

When it comes to preparing for any sort of SHTF event it really is a guessing game. All we can (and should) do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. There is no way to know exactly what might happen, but we can stack the deck in our favor by learning new skills, maintaining our health and preparing for these disasters while we still have the opportunity.

Next week we are going to expand on this a little bit and go over how people will be the X factor that could change the dynamics of a disaster. The way certain people react could make a disaster more tolerable, or make it even worse. 

We all have preconceived ideas of how things will go down in a worldwide, or nationwide SHTF situation happens. But do we really know what will happen? Do we really know how people that we love, and those that we don’t, we react?

The truth is no. We have no idea of how people will react, or what will transpire. But there are things that we can do to prepare for the unknown, after all, isn’t this why we all are preparing in the first place?

SPP182 Prepare For the Worst and Hope For the Best

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The show note for this episode are a little short this week, but we went over much more about these topics in the show. We also talked about the future of prepping, and the future of our country. There is also a video about this at the end of the post.

Planning for Chaos

In the event something happens, we will all be waiting for the magical catalyst that will set everything off. The unfortunate thing is, we won’t know what that ‘thing’ is until after it happens. So be diligent now. Pay attention to what is going on in the world around you, and continue building your preps.

Adding in Unknown Variables

After things go to crap, you need to consider all possible scenarios both short term and long term. You need to think about how you and your family will live, and continue your ‘new normal’ on an everyday basis. You need to consider all of the not so good what if scenarios. There may be unfavorable characters that may wander onto your property. There may be mobs of marauders searching for preppers.

Stockpiling and Planning

Every day that you can prepare is a good day, don’t let it go to waste. Continue to prepare, and plan. Learn new skills, think of alternative ways to continue your lifestyle. You will need to have a lot of food, and every day necessities, as well as ways to continue the electricity, or alternatives.

You will also need a way to keep your preps safe. You will need to know about security, and how to keep your family safe, and you will need to have options to all the above. Plan for that now.

Know thy Neighbor

Put yourself out there, within reason. Get to know your neighbors, their strengths as well as their weaknesses. This could be valuable information in an SHTF situation.  You don’t need to spread your message of preparedness, but you do need to know how your neighbors are prepared.

If you have an understanding of the people who live around you, you will be better prepared to deal with them if things get ugly. You never know how people will react when things go bad, including yourself. So get to know your neighbors. There really is safety in numbers, and it is also important to know if these people will benefit, or be a hindrance to your own preparedness journey.

Know who lives around you, and what type of people are in your community, and then branch out further from your bubble. Don’t stay so focused on yourself that you forget about the millions of other people in this country. You need to always be looking at the big picture, and plan for it.

From Bad to Worse

You will need to know how to pace yourself when things go down. If the power goes out, don’t turn your home into a military installation just yet.  It is almost like a defcon scale, and this would be defcon 3. You are alert to the situation, but aren’t pulling out all the stops yet. Pull out your crank radio, or HAM radio, and pay attention. You will be on an alert status, but try not to over-react.

If it truly is an SHTF scenario, or could be, that alert status will jump up. If you feel a sense of urgency, don’t ignore it. This is what we plan and prep for, and you must know how to react.

Your Own Mental Health

Our own mental heath is a very important factor. If people are expecting us to lead, or looking to us for answers, we need to be able and willing to do so. If we are on the verge of “losing it” everyone else looking at us to lead them will follow suit.

This is a tough situation because none of us really know how a disaster scenario will affect us, but keeping a cool head (as much as possible) is critical in any survival situation.

Preparing For the Worst

Again, this is what we do, plan for the worst. And you need to come up with your worst-case scenario, no matter what that may be. And you need to plan for it. Also make sure that as you are planning for these large scale disaster events that you are not forgetting the little things.

Having a well stocked gun safe is useless without the right ammo, and having a pantry full of canned food is worthless without a can opener. On a larger scale, don’t get so focused on stockpiling food and water that you forget about security.

Learn From History

If you want to know what could happen, read about what has happened throughout history. Read up on how people reacted during the civil war, world wars and different situations. Look at the fall of the Roman empire. What happened during these SHTF scenarios? How did people react? People are creatures of habit, and we tend to duplicate and replicate our own pasts, for better or for worse. Study these situations, and learn from them.

The Future of Prepping