Article Contest Entry – State of Mind
Good advice from BKB from picturesque Oregon for our Food Storage Article Contest! And it’s something I don’t cover enough:
State of Mind
“If I could give just one piece of advice…uh, what were we talking about?…Oh yeah, food storage.”
Most of us never forget to eat or go to work. We manage to juggle crazy, out-of-control lives with never enough time or money, and still succeed. Yet somehow the idea of putting a little food and money aside for the inevitable, rarely crosses our minds. Maybe we don’t want to be depressed by thinking about the different scenarios that might threaten to starve us to death. The fact is that we will all face a calamity, whether individually, locally or globally, we will have our own gut check. Surviving and thriving through the crisis will depend on the preparations we make now.
What’s my advice? Don’t be ignorant to your situation, threats to your safety, and the remedies that will save you. The first priority is to be aware. What do you have in the cupboard? If it is an old can of tomato soup and a handful of single serving taco sauce packets, you have a problem.
Pay attention to current events, economic trends and political changes. As grimy and distasteful as politics and world news may be, it is important to be informed.
In this modern age, we are running full tilt, putting all of our trust in electronics. Until this system crashes, use it to educate you and your family.
Listen to your crazy family members, read what the survivalists have to say about what they know. Use the internet and access the newest developments and products; putting up peaches in glass jars, like grandma once did, may not be helpful. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. There are smarter, and better prepared, people out there than you and I; use them. Be educated and develop an opinion.
Make a plan to do something. Buy an extra can of spaghetti sauce or build the bomb shelter under the rose beds; doing something as frequently as possible is the key. Coupon clipping has helped hundreds of families collect a year supply of household items in a hurry and stay in budget. Copy canning, buying extra of what you use everyday, is a painless way to get started. Another tip: if you skip straight to digging a bomb shelter, you might as well take your last breath and cover yourself in the dirt.
Preparedness is a state of mind. It starts with being aware of your surroundings and the world we live in. Anticipating the problems and preparing to deal with them is as much a mental game as it is a physical one. Once you condition yourself to visualize the need, you will incorporate being prepared into your life. Food storage, you ask? No problem.
