Prepper Instructor Offers Some Tips

Discussion in 'Mental Preparedness' started by Pragmatist, Apr 27, 2020.

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  1. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    https://www.times-news.com/opinion/...cle_feb8c174-6920-527c-abf8-49dd2619fc17.html


    Good afternoon all,

    Per ...

    I've attended seminars with a common thread being to read - everything and anything.

    The speakers told of maintaining their mental health by reading every label on their clothes, every label on food containers.

    Part of my loadout is my poetry and books to protect me. No friendship, no loving, no laughter...just my mini-books from Barnes and Nobel that fit between thing in a field jacket pocket.

    Plus, I label some of my stuff with stuff to read. My small first aid kit has a label covered with USPS cellophane tape with line from my favorite poem: "Is there - is there balm in Gilead? "The Raven", Edgar Allen Poe. On old boots, long gone, was a well-attached inside label "And Joshua marched all night and ..." Forgot cite.

    Reading does work. Augment with a shortwave radio and - - - life can be a bowl of cherries.

    Pay attention to what is disdained.
     
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  2. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    if someone has to resort to reading labels to hold onto their mental state then they've got one big problem.
     
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    1. Blitz
      Hahahahahaha! That seriously cracked me up! Hahahahaha!

      You're dead right though!
       
      Blitz, Apr 27, 2020
  3. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I've been reduced to reading the phone book in a motel room before. People that read will read anything if nothing better is available. For me, the next best thing to reading is writing. I do a lot of that too.

    I have a book or two in every kit other than the wallet-sized kit.
     
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  4. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    The only way I can see someone being so bored as to read clothing labels and such is if they choose to be confined in a bunker . Around here on our retreat it is seldom boring , even though there is sometimes a short boring period . Something I do sometimes " like this morning " if I get bored is to grab my flint and steel and start a fire with the worst material I have on hand for fire starting . The good fire starting material is too easy . We can always take turns trailing each other with the bloodhound . That is always fun . Gardening , fishing , hunting and such takes a lot of our time . In short being so bored as to read labels just isn't likely to happen . Our newest member that flew into our little airport from west Texas a few months ago , has found out just how busy and active our survival retreat is . Today she is helping build a porch roof .
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2020
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  5. Blitz

    Blitz Master Survivalist
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    A couple of things really rang true regarding that article.

    Keeping a schedule I think is incredibly important. Having some sort of structure. Both my father and husband were para troopers with the British Army - my father had been shot in the head by a sniper in WWII during a campaign called Market Garden in Arnhem and consequently held as a POW by the Germans (for anyone who knows their military history) and my husband saw action in various campaigns during his time with the Army in which he was injured numerous times and witnessed many members of his platoon being killed. The relevance being, they were both sticklers for routine and structure. It didn't matter what disasters befell them later in life, no matter how dire, they both maintained order and structure and had an incredible coping mechanism. You get out of bed at a certain hour every day and maintain a solid daily routine - no matter what. Admittedly their training would have a lot to do with their coping mechanisms but I still think it would be an important part of survival.

    The other thing I think is important is mental acuity. Keeping mentally fit is just as important as physically fit. Once you let your mental faculties slip, it's a downhill slide. It's vital to make the effort to try new things, constantly learn and keep those cogs well oiled. Challenge the grey matter not only with new things but by keeping existing skills. Puzzles, crosswords, learning new skills whether that be macrame, tool making - whatever floats your boat.

    Not too sure about reading labels on clothing and the like but then again, whatever gets you through the day ...
     
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  6. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    I still read almost anything I can get my hands on and do mind puzzles for mental acuity. Regardless of everything I do, I know my mental abilities have "slipped" shall we say. When I was young, I could read a book, listen to music, watch TV and have a conversation, all at once. Drove people crazy. It was good practice for the Army where I have called in multiple airstrikes, artillery while directing team operations. I couldn't do that now if my life depended on it. There are only a few things that I think really suck about getting older, but this is one of them.

    Dale
     
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  7. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    Sounds like Motel Green Mile. :D
     
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  8. F22 Simpilot

    F22 Simpilot Master Survivalist
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    Without reading the article (it's getting late). I think a set of routines and discipline are what's in order to keep things running like a well greased military fighting machine. Then you need little moral boosters. If I even build my dream bunker I'll have things to do along that path because I know psychology is very important. Like a spa, an exercise room, billiards room, bowling alley, etc. Since I'm up and up with computers and what have you I'll also have an Intranet with my own Wiki, etc. I also downloaded all of Wikipedia so I can throw that beast on my local network for reading. It'll be like having the Internet minus people. LOL
     
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  9. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    this subject is hilarious, but that aside I think post collapse there will be a lot of people with mental problems who probably wont survive for very long.
     
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  10. Blitz

    Blitz Master Survivalist
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    Well lonewolf, with the amount of kangaroos loose in my top paddock, I'm well and truly screwed! hahahahaha!
     
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  11. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    I've always been happy being on my own, I don't need other people to be happy, so being in lockdown isn't a problem for me but for many Brits who are of the "social" kind its really doing their heads in.
     
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  12. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good morning Lonewolf,

    If "hilarious" can include "gallows humor", please let me add a clothing label:

    =========

    Drawers, Extreme Cold Weather
    100% Cotton

    ....................

    Laundering Instructions
    Do Not Hang To Dry

    ..................

    ===========
     
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  13. varuna

    varuna Tree killer & a cat person
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    As someone with habit of reading (checking) every labeling regardless of type of item and also currently suffering from depression I can say this with utter certainty that it does nothing to ease my mental health. Reading the label and making mental note of what was written on it has always been my habit since my teen days.
     
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  14. Pragmatist

    Pragmatist Master Survivalist
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    Good afternoon Varuna,

    There could be some level of probability that reading does enhance mental health.

    If possessing quality reading material such as portable style books and folded historic event maps, it probably does help.

    If outright stranded, such as an isolated cabin, a life boat, a crashed aircraft, reading anything and everything can serves as a poor but still valuable substitute.

    The old green fire extinguishers with instruction labels can offer some tranquility to prevent a worsening mental conditioning.

    I posted above narrative from a clothing label that, while freezing, gave me a warm laugh. I used the garment for an extra scarf.
     
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  15. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Modern people are actually poorly prepared for true solitude. In the past, people spent many hours alone in their heads doing various menial repetitive jobs. Most of those have been replaced with machines. People used to get together to "visit" and talk. Now if you watch in a restaurant people all sit at a table looking at their phones. At home, they sit and look at a TV and even when they are driving the radio is going. There is a reason that putting someone in solitary confinement is a punishment. In the past it was hard, now it drives people totally crazy because they don't have the mental tools to deal with a lack of input to keep their minds alive and moving.

    In the past, there were people that made a profession of traveling around and telling stories. This is where the various "Mythologies" of oral traditions came from. At night when their day of work was done, they go together and someone would look up at the stars and tell them stories about the things that they saw in the shapes made by the constellations. They told stories of the ancestors and the great people of the past.

    In the long winter nights, people often had what was called night day. They would go to sleep and then wake in the night and have a social time then go back to sleep for a while before again starting their day. Without modern lighting, they went to bed early but couldn't sleep the entire night away. In the northern places, the nights can be 16 to 20 hours long and there is just so much that you can do in the dark. Modern lighting has changed the world. They could use candles and oil lamps for some small amount of time but in the end, there were many hours of dark and little to do.

    When the machines stop talking to us the silence is going to be endless and deafening to our minds trained to constant noise and input. In the past, one person could lay near the fire and read to many when there were no storytellers available. Now most people, even those that do read, are changing over to the Ebooks and Ereaders that will be useless without power.

    People used to have friends that they often got together with. My parents kept coffee gong from 5 am to 8pm every day and if the weather was good they would set up outside and people would come over after dinner to "visit". They played bridge several times a month and were active at Church, the PTA, the Scouts and other organizations. Social interaction was important when you didn't have a TV to worship.

    I was raised reading. They read to me until I learned to read and then after that fed me books as fast as I could read them. The ability to read and absorb information has been instrumental in my life. I have very little in the way of school learning. I have taught myself trade after trade from books. I have licenses in several areas and can talk intelligently in many areas. I read about 18 magazines a month covering things like astronomy, science, archeology, psychology, hunting, fishing, Fossils, rocks and gems, Mechanics, history, religions of all kinds, and weird stuff having to do with cryptozoology and the paranormal.

    Books are what allowed people to advance and not have to reinvent the wheel with every generation. As long as we have books we can, when we need to, retrain people to do the things that we need to do. You can't just reinvent trigonometry, metallurgy or chemistry over and over and get anywhere. The making of some metals was made and lost several times because the techniques were taught master to apprentice and because of war or plague all that knew the secret were lost.

    When the library at Alexandria was burned we went into a dark age where people were again little more than slightly advanced and enslaved animals. Even today many faiths still try to prevent any advancement of knowledge and if given the chance would again burn all the libraries and eliminate knowledge.

    Kids now are not encouraged to read and even if they are, it is hard to get them to read enough to make it so that their ability to read can compete with watching and passively a machine. Honestly, a lot of these kids if you took away their machines are little smarter than a toddler. They know how to let a machine tell them what to do but actually KNOW almost nothing. Many can't even do basic arithmetic now!!

    With books and reading, you stand on the shoulders of giants. Without those books, you stand on your bare feet and only can do the things that YOU or someone that you know can figure out THEN.
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2020
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    1. Dalewick
      Very well stated. I personally believe EVERY prepper should have a well rounded library. Mostly books that inform, teach and instruct on skills that are perishable. ie, blacksmithing, gardening, raising animals, making cloth & leather, machining, etc. etc. then some literature, hobbies, art or whatever. Ink is better than the brightest memory. Just my opinion.
       
      Dalewick, Apr 28, 2020
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  16. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    I remember when every home had an encyclopedia. That day is gone. If an emp strikes tomorrow we will slide back into little more than hand to mouth existence in most places. Even most of the people that raise gardens will be in trouble because they are growing hybrid plats that offer only limited ability to harvest reliable seeds from. They will have to start from scratch hunting and finding plants that will grow and reproduce well in their area. Having Books are like having a heritage seed bank. Power tools are the same they are useless without power and most people don't have the hand tools needed to build a house. All things have a beginning level. Without that, you stay at the bottom of the ladder.
     
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  17. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    I have a library of books, not e-readers real books, mostly on prepping and survival, they are for reference purposes.
    I keep reading over the years about humans being "social" animals, this will be most peoples downfall and its why most people have some form of "cabin fever" at the present and we have only been in lockdown over here for 5 weeks!!, if the world goes dark and quiet-for ever- then I'm not sure many will be able to cope, most cannot seem to exist without noise or companionship.
    I require neither.
     
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