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Monday, July 20, 2009

Getting Friends and Family interested in Survival Mindset and Preparedness

I was asked this by a reader yesterday and thought maybe others would have similar problems.
One thing I can assure you, it’s impossible or at least extremely difficult to prepare when you don’t have the support of your family. You need everyone to be on the same page is you expect to have anything that resembles a preparedness strategy.

Everyone has his own version or advice.
My advice is to take a realist approach. Don’t go for far fetch conspiracy theories or fantasies. You’ll just scare them away, and end up looking like a weirdo.
Reality is bad enough already, even for the worst pessimist.
No need to go into Hollywood or fantasies. “Look what happened to Will Smith in “I am Legend”!”
That’s supposed to get a person’s gears moving? Most likely it will do more damage than good, portraying yourself as someone that can’t differentiate fantasy from reality.

There are hundreds of examples world wide where it’s clear that preparing accordingly would have made a great difference.
From plane crashes to more ordinary accidents and incidents like earthquakes, floods and tornados, to falling governments and economies along with religious and ethnical fights among nations. And lets not forget the everyday facts of life: Unexpected deaths and illnesses, getting fired or suffering other kind of financial blows. They are not glamorous but they occur all the time.
This is not supposed to scare people or make them go nuts, it’s called life guys. Most of it is great, some of it isn’t.
As I told the reader that emailed me, a smart survivalist isn’t all about doom and gloom, he’s not a pessimist.
A smart survivalist enjoys the good times and also prepares for the bad ones so that they have a minimum impact in his life and the life of his loved ones.
He makes preparedness a part of his life and enjoys that as well.
Just take for example the current Swine flu issue. You don’t see survivalists panicking. We saw this coming a mile away. You get informed, you learn, you take measures, buy the supplies you think you’ll be needing, and that’s that. Meanwhile others live in fear, because they didn’t prepare and mostly because of their ignorance regarding what’s going on.

As a first step into getting started, here a post that might be useful.
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/03/minimalist-mini-guide-to-get-prepper.html
The longer post I wrote in 2005 has converted into survival and preparedness more than a few people.
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/search/label/Argentine%20Collapse
And then of course my book, which is meant to be a modern survival manual, like the title says, covering all the spectrum of an economic collapse that may apply to other emergencies as well since it covers the general survivalist mindset, including self defense, security, food storage, supplies and gear, just to mention a couple.

FerFAL

2 comments:

Joseph said...

FerFAL, I think the way to go is to emphasize more in the area of disaster preparedness, such as tornado, hurricane, earthquake, etc. Most people understand this better than a "The End of the World as We Know It" type of situation. Many people have, at one time or another, had to do without electrical power or water for at least a brief time, and this is a situation they can relate to.

Anonymous said...

I've found it useful to begin a culture of preparedness with the vehicles. You never know when you might have trouble in a vehicle, and some items kept in the vehicle as preparation can make a big difference in comfort and yes, even survival. Not to mention it can also be billed as a kit for helping those in trouble (which is what my car gear gets used for more than anything else).

Start with a colapsable sun hat, a first aid kit, water bottles and a small pack to carry them. From there other items are added till one has a well rounded preparedness kit for keeping the vehicle moving, helping others in need, and yes, survival if neccessary.

Once the culture of preparedness is established, it's easier to extend it to other places like the home. It becomes a natural extension of the preparedness already achieved rather than an extreme, improbable or scarry concept.