Preparing For The Worst Can Be Exhausting: 20 Ways to Combat Prepper Fatigue

Guest post By Daisy Luther

While preparedness activities and awareness generally provide peace of mind for me, there are days that I just don’t want to see another mylar bag or read the next scary headline trumpeting our imminent collapse.

Both mentally and physically, the activities that make up the everyday life of a prepper can take a toll. If you aren’t gardening or preserving food, you’re practicing marksmanship or other vital skills. You’re reading alternative news websites and piecing together the information as it applies to you and your family. Some folks are worrying about their locations, their retirement accounts that they are unable to access, and their loved ones who remain unconvinced of the need to prepare.

Feelings of overwhelming exhaustion and/or anxiety are signs that you need a little break from prepping. Don’t let that concept cause you even more panic – this doesn’t mean you are returning to life as a sheep. There is a big difference between sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the global situation, and simply taking a little step back now and then. Many people refer to this mental atmosphere of stress as “prepper fatigue.”

My daughters and I just returned from a wonderful week-long vacation visiting some states in the Pacific Northwest. The holiday served multiple purposes: much needed R&R, getting together with good friends, and checking out some farm real estate in our future desired location. I made a rule for myself limiting my time on the computer and just did the bare minimum. I didn’t scour news websites and wrack my brain for topics to write about. I did keep a list to jot down ideas as they occurred to me. My friends are like-minded so we had some great discussions. When I looked at property, obviously the self-sufficiency ramifications were foremost in my mind. But all in all, it was a break from my usual way of life.

It was rejuvenating, and it reminded me how important it is to smell the roses. It isn’t healthy to be grimly focused on the worst things that could happen every second of the day. It isn’t good for your mind and soul to worry so much about tomorrow that you forget about enjoying today.

It’s hard to let go sometimes and just enjoy the moment, but your ability to do so, even (and especially) during difficult times, will allow you to weather the coming storms in good mental health. No matter how difficult the situation, it’s important to spend some time every day smiling. As a parent, a partner, a friend – consider carefully the time you spend with loved ones and be sure that you are creating good memories, whether you’re digging in the garden together, laughing at how silly chickens look when they run, or staring in awe at a breathtaking view.

I’ve recently read some articles (this one in particular was wonderful) about this sense of enjoyment, and was disturbed in the comments to see a few preppers chastising the writers and telling them that the situation was too grim to consider things like fun. The people who cannot find a way to smile during difficult times will be the ones that crack. Their children will be the ones that are the unhappiest. While being determined is important, survival is about more than shoveling unseasoned beans and rice into your mouth and standing watch. As times become more difficult, episodes of fun and laughter, no matter how simple, will see you through them.

Keeping up your motivation by taking time for some recreation doesn’t have to break the budget or divert you completely away from your prepping principles. For example, during my vacation, I was on a boat with like-minded friends. We were enjoying the warm weather and scenery while discussing how difficult it would be to breach the security of a home on a nearby hillside and brainstorming the retreat value of such a home.

Following are twenty ways to take a break, prepper style:

1. Visit a nearby working farm that doubles as a tourist attraction. Learn about the way the farmer houses and feeds livestock, what he grows and the self-sustainable methods in place there.
2. Go camping and rough it to practice your outdoor survival skills. Bring a field guide and look for plants that you can forage and signs of wildlife.
3. Unplug from the computer for 24-48 hours.
4. Do prepper drills: go a weekend without power, have a paintball ambush, go hiking with just a compass and water filter.
5. Learn a new skill like knitting, whittling, making pottery, or marksmanship.
6. Take a class: cheesemaking, gunsmithing, first aid, or a useful craft.
7. Join a gardening club, an archery club, or another group that provides useful information with a social aspect.
8. Take a walk and/or work on your fitness.
9. Have an all-day food preservation get-together with a like-minded friend.
10. Go to a farmers market or a pick-your-own place. Buy a bushel of fruits or veggies for canning while you’re there.
11. Take a vacation to an interesting place.
12. Attend a seminar, country fair, expo, or trade show.
13. Watch a movie or series marathon with the family – opt for something inspiring like Red Dawn, Jericho, or another survival flick.
14. Read a book like Lights Out, One Second After, or The Stand.
15. Browse the gardening or building section of a bookstore or library.
16. Spend the afternoon at a greenhouse or garden store, checking out new plants.
17. Curl up with a seed catalog and a notebook.
18. Write in a journal – you can focus on prepping, your garden, your faith, or life in general.
19. Play with a pet. (I’m working on some obedience training with my dog before a search and rescue course next fall.)
20. Go hunting or fishing.

How do you decompress to combat prepper fatigue, while still working towards your preparedness goals? Do you feel a sense of renewed enthusiasm after taking a little break?

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

Preppers Shall Inherit the Earth

When some of us look at our current world situation, we see a catastrophic human crisis emerging within view. If you are not seeing what is emerging, YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION.

There are several key issues that are coming together to ensure a Darwinian culling of the human species and that my friends is no exaggeration.

Currently, we as a global species, are relying on dwindling global resources coming from distant places for our day to day survival and many are completely unaware of how fragile that supply chain is. We take for granted how the very essentials of daily life magically appear in our local stores for our thoughtless consumption. How our food is grown or raised, how it makes it's journey from the farm to the table, how clean water gets into our homes and how cheap reliable energy powers our everyday lives without a thought.

What of our ability to purchase those goods from others? Our everyday life is consumed with the activity of making money. Fore it is, we are told, with money that we can acquire what we need for our survival and amusement. Our global system has made it so, without money, without this paper, that buys less and less with every ticking second, that we find ourselves in the "civilized world" unable to survive without it for long.

It has become very clear, to those that are paying attention, that the path humanity is on, is headed for a cliff. Human being naturally have an inclination to avoid the unpleasant. When most people face something unpleasant in their lives, like a bad relationship or a situation that no longer serves them, they most often put off, ignore or distract the mind with behaviors or mind altering substances hoping that the situation shall somehow right itself without facing difficult choices. Of course, this type of denial is psychologically harmful, and the reason for most depression, as we live our lives ignoring rather than facing difficulties in our personal lives with meaningful corrections that will lead to a more satisfying situation.

Our society is but a mere reflection of our collective inclinations. We, as a species, have a very serious situations in our world that we need to face but the collective response is increasingly that of denial, myopia, apathy and our choice to ignore the perils that await our near future in the hopes that they too may find magical solutions that do not exist. Our politicians obsessed at kicking the can till the next election fail to serve us because we, as people of our respective nations, fail to serve ourselves in societies where ignorance is bliss.

What I am about to say is not fear mongering, but a call to all to take a long hard look at the danger that approaches so that we can act with reason and not react with blind fear. If we as people are fully aware of the risks we can act proactively and mitigate those risks with intelligent thought and appropriate actions.

That being said, I would like you to consider the following issues:

The global financial system, which is based on every increasing debt, is on the verge of total collapse. The Dollar and all the currencies around the world are quickly losing their value and thus what we are able to buy with the same amount of currency becomes less and less.

It is very likely in the near future that the Dollar will become worthless as a means of exchange in the global market place.

Our leaders will fix this, won't they? Why, they have a solution, don't they? Just raise the debt ceiling, right?

Who will lend to us, should we decide to take on more debt? In order to borrow there must be a lender. Who might that be? Everyone is loaded with debt? All the currencies are losing value. Why should anyone hold anything that buys less or becomes worthless the longer you hold it?

What happens when countries who sell us things stop taking dollars or the items they sell become prohibitively expensive?

How will we import the things we need when others decide not to sell us these things or we can no longer afford them?

Well we will bring it in ourselves, won't we?

How?

We need energy in the form of fuel to bring items from afar. The farther the item the higher the energy costs to acquire them. But wait, we don't have enough natural energy supplies to sustain the system because we must import it at a cost that will be getting greater. Yes folks, what happens now?

It is quite clear that we have a dilemma rapidly developing in our world.

Things will magically stop appearing at the local stores. Power and goods will become increasingly expensive and unattainable. Unemployment will continue to increase to the point were government will not have the resources to manage or help.

So what are we to do?

There is a growing movement of people who are taking proactive steps to control their destiny. These people, dubbed "Preppers", are people from all walks of life, all political persuasions, all ethnicities and races who have come to the conclusion that danger is in fact a likely reality in the near future. These people , by no means, have all the answers to the many problems that face us or a crystal ball to see into the future, but they are quite sure they should not leave their well being and the well being of their families in the hand of their less than competent leaders. They have seen the writing on the wall and prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

These people are storing food and water for themselves and their families in case of some unforeseen event that may interrupt their supply of life's necessities. These people are stocking up in items that may help them in a world unlike the world we have today. The items they store are not items which need disposable parts but items that have served their ancestors in a time before life's current conveniences. Some are even planning beyond food storage as the length of such a crisis may be far longer than their supplies will last. Many who can, are migrating to places were they will be able to sustain themselves with livestock and planted harvests. These people are re educating themselves with information in the art of self sufficiency that has been lost to this generation. They are buying weapons to defend themselves from the lawlessness that would ensue in the absence of law enforcement.

People who can not leave their urban environments are growing rooftop gardens and keeping rabbits and chickens in an attempt to offer some renewable source of nutrition in addition to their food sources. Goats have become more common in the suburbs as a reliable alternative to dairy sources. People are becoming proactive because unconventional times require unconventional solutions. These people are becoming less and less fringe and more and more mainstream. The people are becoming more and more aware that our leaders have no such solution and the world is quickly headed to a global disaster of epoch proportions.

When the dust settles, those people called Preppers, shall inherit the earth.