Have you made any plans for entertainment?

We can prep ourselves mentally and emotionally in any number of ways, but I think we (myself included) sometimes forget the value of entertainment, in terms of keeping ourselves mentally and emotionally healthy.

Entertainment was once no more than person-to-person storytelling; it was music (think: guitars around a campfire); it was a group sing-along; it was a home-written, -directed, and -acted family play; it was a time-honored game that involved everyone in the family (think: charades); it was art on a cave wall, shared with other cave-dwellers... I'm sure you all can think of many other examples.

I truly believe entertainment is as important to our well-being as food and water; for, without something, anything, to enjoy, for the sole sake of enjoyment itself, what else have we to live?

Yes, I know: Life itself is number one. We also need sex, and many of us have the desire to create family. But I'm talking about something beyond these most basic needs -- something that drives us to seek out beauty, or just mindless laughter -- and, ultimately, camaraderie.

Once the dust has settled, and sheer survival is not so urgent, what do you plan to do for entertainment, just for the joy of it?

 

Read every book I can get my hands on. I love reading and have for my whole life, but I often find myself just not having enough time to read as much as I'd like to. I'd also grow as many ornamental plants as I possibly could. The edible plants would be higher priority, of course, but it wouldn't be that hard to work in some plants to grow solely because they're beautiful.

 

I'm studying art for my second degree, so if you or your group is lucky, I would take assessment of what skills/talents everyone has to offer. I'd obviously offer to teach art to the younger kids, or adults who were interested as a means of stress relief, introspection, etc. If others are willing I would encourage them to use their talents for entertainment purposes. Art must go on, so should writing, education etc. Society or a level of such should attempt to establish itself again with some norms and means to move forward, otherwise what's the point of history and everything we've learned up until this point.

 

I love to read, too, but carrying more than one or two books I would imagine would be cumbersome if you lost your shelter or had to stay mobile. I have a digital reader that has tons of books and have invested in a device that will charge things remotely. Granted, you have to spend a lot of time cranking the device to adequately charge the e-reader, but I think it would be worth it to have access to all the books I have on there. I probably couldn't read them all in a decade and have some favorites on there I have already read, but wouldn't mind reading again. I have also put on some survivalist materials as well, just in case!

 

That does my heart good. I am a voracious reader myself (and earn part of my income from buying and selling books). Every time I hear someone crow about the convenience of Kindle or another e-reader, my immediate response is: "And when the power goes out, then what will you do?" (I also like to mention that you can drop a real book in the toilet, and it will still be usable.)

I also like your idea of growing plants just for their beauty, as a form of entertainment. I admit, my focus is on vegetables -- which are beautiful, indeed -- but sometimes I forget that it's important to simply help create beauty through vegetation, even if a given plant has no apparent "use."

The ornamentals I have grown usually do have a second use, such as marigolds, to drive away various unwanted bugs from my veggies, or certain succulents, which help protect the ground from erosion. But I have also been thinking lately about cultivating edible flowers (about which I know little yet). That would certainly serve all purposes!

 

I love your thoughts here, evergreen. When I was young, I wanted to be an artist or a writer (I was encouraged, but I just never thought I was good enough). Ultimately, I went into a profession that was among the most un-creative, but paid well. I thought: If the bomb drops tomorrow, what use will my creative skills be? The rest of the people in the bomb shelter will kick me out first, as I have nothing to offer!

As time went by, I realized that art, in all its forms, is as vital to life as the ability to light a fire with two sticks. If all I can ever do is make someone laugh, then I will have succeeded in relieving pain, if only for a moment. If I can tell a story, through words or images, that enthralls someone else, then I will have succeeded in taking my audience out of this world of pain -- again, if only for a moment.

Thank you, evergreen, for reminding me of this. I am grateful that there are people like you in this world, and I hope, sincerely, that should everything else around us collapse, there is someone like you in my group.

 

Ah, but that's assuming there would still be a central source to feed the digital books into your e-reader. When Amazon goes, so goes access to every digital book on your Kindle. The books you have on Kindle, or Nook, you neither own (you license them), nor actually "have" on your e-reader. You have access only as long as you have an active account, and when the account-holder (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) goes away, so do your e-books.

On the other hand, if you can keep a standalone computer maintained (and have enough juice to run it), you could read everything you could download as long as there was a server to serve it. It might not be a bad idea to download everything currently available (for free) now from such sites as Project Gutenberg. (I've been meaning to do all the classics -- maybe the apocalypse will get me off my duff!)

In the worst-case scenario, I wouldn't be able to lug around my entire library of printed books, either -- which makes me think that I probably ought to come up with a list of 50 or so I couldn't live without, and which I could transport without too much effort.

Of course, we might end up in a Fahrenheit 451 situation someday. I hope not, because I think I'm too old and forgetful to memorize anything longer than a few of Dorothy Parker's poems!

 

I've learned from camping that even bad music is good entertainment with good company. Harmonicas, guitars, violins, etc. All things that don't rely on electricity. Making music together certainly brings a group closer as well.

 

Without the modern stuff recording an image will regress back to sitting and painting on canvas or painted clay figurines!

 

I had the business career first then left it to go complete my original dream. I do think it's important that everyone, should things go wrong one day contribute what they can. Otherwise we are going to have a bunch of bored, frustrated people, and well I can only imagine the amount of drama that will bring on.

 

I like to do a lot of environmental work in nature but I use the fact that I need community service hours as an excuse to do it haha! It just feels so peaceful when you're just sitting there, talking with other people, and just staring into the beauty of the forest.

 

I'd like to expand the idea of entertainment to include occupation in general. It will take time to cook our meals. And once we find a stream we will have to wash our clothes and hang them. There will be encounters with wild animals. We can bathe in a quiet stream and maybe find some interesting rocks to collect, or maybe some that would make good tools. We can tell stories and sing. Would be nice to bring along a deck of cards. And a pen and paper, i love to write.

 

A lot of boardgames will be pretty common as they can be just as fun as video games with others and require no energy. Another entertainment method would be finding a few good books to read. This is the best because it can be put down or picked it up whenever you want. Maybe if you're not one for reading, or ran out of reading material, you and your companions can write instead and read each other's stories. Also, just because a disaster strikes, that doesn't mean electronics are completely dead. I mentioned before that it's possible to buy a solar powerbank and possible charge a video game handheld on the go, or for something simpler, an mp3 player with a few thousand songs. Nothing beats a musical heart.

 

I don't think I would need anything physical, as long as I had another person with me. Chatting is a great form of entertainment, heck, by the end of the ordeal, you'd probably get to know the person very well and share an interesting sort of bond with them having gone through such an event.

 

Oh that's an easy one for me. I love reading and telling stories and jokes to my friends and family. I actually wish we could do more of that as it is. Unfortunately, everyone is always too busy on their phones or on social media... but in a situation where we had nothing else for entertainment, I'm very sure that everyone would be just as eager as I am to gather round the fire and listen to a few stories from gramp's youth.

 

Now that you mention it, I always seem to forget about entertainment as well. I guess it's because it's not considered lethal, but it can be if you're bored long enough (like that guy from Cast Away.) My entertainment includes: books, some movies (if i can bring my laptop), board games and UNO if I'm with friends. Also, friends themselves are a great entertainment.

 

Depending on the situation your laptop may not be practical. If there's no power in a crisis or after a disaster and people had to live off the grid, your books or cards would be your best bet. I think playing cards would be the best entertainment in a survival situation, It kind of reminds me of being at a cook out, if there was food caught or foraged that was being smoked at the same time. Books will definitely help you keep your mind occupied

 

When I was a kid we visited a farm. It belonged to a family that was anti-TV, anti-tech and to stop their children from watching TV they'd decided to live off the grid. Those who lived on the farm didn't care much for entertainment. They'd be out working the whole day and in the evening, after dinner, they'd plan what they'd do the next day.

Post-shtf people can and will do without entertainment.