Many of the posts made on this forum are from requests, but regardless, there is some good information posted on this forum that tends to get ignored, or, these posts do not receive any comments. This could be because many members can't be bothered to reply, or it could be because they are simply not interested. So this got me wondering just how many members were serious about shtf survival, how many were just treating this survival as a hobby or pastime to be enjoyed but not taken seriously. So, Which category do you place yourself in? Keith.
I take it very serious Have been since 1974! Everything worth knowing I already know Every skill worth having I already have! I have enough firearms and too much ammo! I have most everything I need! Running short on years and tolerance! Running heavy on onboard reserves!
I am always learning but what I am learning most people refuse to as it offends most and the rest refute it so I don't post it here or anywhere for that matter as it ALWAYS starts arguments so I already know anything that you want to know!
most people in the UK who call themselves preppers only see it as a hobby, they are only interested in short term events and then returning to "normal". I refer to myself as a survivalist as I am interested in long term/permanent survival, I have done the short term stuff-several times over.
Now, now, just calm down. You CAN'T have too much ammo. OR too many firearms. Might I suggest psychotherapy? So many firearms and so little money!
I've been serious about survival since my first day on the job. My first call for "service" actually. Some nut job shot a woman point blank blank with a 12 gauge. Blew out 4 ribs, lung hanging out like a bloody bag. Ribs sticking in the dry wall. First call, first night on the job. I should have quit right there and run home and hid! I had nightmares for years over that. Still do sometimes. I stuck it out, figgered it couldn't get much worse. It did. 5 years in psychotherapy for p.t.s.d., depression, addiction,.......................... Yeah, it was a ton of fun. To this day fight alcoholism and depression, and the nightmares. Never been suicidal. 4 of my co-workers ate their gun. Nasty. That was after a stay in the nut house. No one can see ugly every day at work and stay sane. 3 month old drowned in the bath tub. 16 year old girl went through the windshield. Old man thrown 20 feet in the air by a teen driver. I actually watched that one. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Picking up skull bones off the pavement so the surgeons could put them back in a girls noggin'. Plugged a bullet wound to the heart with my finger. Didn't help. He died. Cradled an old woman's head in my lap in the middle of the street. Drunk driver; hit skip. She died in my arms. I swear I felt her die. I caught the driver the next day. He served 12 months. She's still dead. Watched a man blow his head off with a shotgun. Messy. Yeah............p.t.s.d./depression. Took a disability retirement. 22.5 years. I earned it. I have my police pension and my social security. I did 8 years at G.M. after police work and 9 month in rehab learning to walk again. 4th broken back don'cha'know. 13 major injuries..............3 concussions............back broke 4 X............. both hands broken..........Yeah. It was such a fun job. My partner in the detective bureau blew his brains out.
Yet I am just so different! When I see someone launched of a speeding cars bonnet I am already thinking how many rolls they will get in before landing and what bit lands first as well as how high and far they get! The second time I witnessed a launch I had to take two steps to the left as I was standing in the impact zone! Was just about to call a mate but called 000 while he was still in flight! sadly this guys head hit the traffic light pole with his head so there was no hurry for the medics! Just another day! no nightmares no nothing! yet I cried when I had to shoot my cat!
I voted for the other option because I am a mixture of serious and a hobby. It isn't only a hobby where I would collect things as you described it - I want to learn, I want to educate myself around survival and preppin because it always interested me. Even as a young girl, I found it fascinating. One of our neighbors that lived at the top of our street was ''hardcore'' survival. He traveled abroad almost every other month and tried to survive in different areas - he told me a couple of stories that occurred to him and I always loved it. The only reason that I don't reply to more technical discussions or questions is that I lack the real knowledge in most areas. I feel like you guys, that are experienced survivals can help the members out more efficiently than me I am here to learn and absorb knowledge really!
I saw my first two corpses at age 12, I was 17 before I saw five more. The circumstances of both events were just people being bloody stupid and not paying any mind to the consequences of their stupid actions. If people want to adjust the odds against their survival and earn a Darwin Award then that's fine, leave me out of it I can do without one. I want the odds stacked in my favour. I'm serious about surviving. There is no point in me talking to you about my preps, they're specific to my situation but I'm happy to add my limited knowledge if I think it will help
Well I am serious about being prepared, but I also enjoy the learning, sharing & practice. I think the most fun was when I was starting out, collecting the equipment I needed. But it is a long process, & even these days, after all those years, I still find myself looking at my gear & wondering if there is anything I can go without. The learning process never stops. Keith.
I would describe myself as an interested student. I am not sure where my level of survival training is. I just find it interesting to learn about, because who knows when and how we might have to use it sometime. It is always good to know how to survive if called on to do so. With the level of tension in the world, who knows when things could escalate out of control?
I enjoy learning, so I try to learn as many survival skills as I can. I take it serious enough to have a plan and some preparation in the event those skills are needed, but I don't take is so serious as not to live and enjoy life waiting for something to happen that may not happen. I think if you are vigilant and understand signs you will not be caught by surprise when and if SHTF.
I am very serious about learning how to survive. I started this journey by decreasing/decluttering my everyday life. I stopped buying stuff that I didn't need. I want to love a very simple life. I want to be ready for any situation, no matter how big or how small.
I guess I would fall into the "other" category more than anything else. The thing is that I'm not preparing for a SHTF survival situation because I'm already living as I'd plan to in that scenario, for the most part anyway. For example, when it comes to food I'm mostly self sufficient given I get 90% of what I eat from my own backyard. I have a well for water, and will be investing in solar panels in order to have my own source of electricity as well. Ultimately my goal is to have my internet connection be the only thing that I depend on from the outside world. I'm mostly here to discuss related topics, and not only learn how to improve my current efforts in self sufficiency but pick up wilderness survival knowledge on the side.
Over the years my interest in survival and self-sufficiency has been helpful on several occasions. Survival is a mind set and when the going has gotten tough in my life I have always had a plan and got going. TEOTWAWKI can be a personal thing. Believe me a year out of work tested my survival mentality. If you spend as much time as I do thinking about possible scenarios there are very few things that can happen that I don't at least have a few ideas about already. The thing is that for me it counters worry if I have a plan. For me the survival philosophy is a lot like algebra. You break the big problem down into smaller component parts and then deal with those one at a time. If you will do this you don't have the problem of feeling overwhelmed. One step at a time you can work yourself out of almost any problem. The more that you know the more options you have and the more you have thought about the possible problems the more likely you are to have already considered solutions to the small problems.
I have been a "prepper" for years. Prepper is not what I want to call myself, I am actually someone who wants to live. I want to have the knowledge and skills to take care of me & mine no matter what the world throws my way. Bottom-line is that I want to be more self-sufficient. Since I have been around many prepper/survival sites, I read a lot of posts from armchair preppers or those people that think they can purchase their survival. They are so wrong. Many people do not do the hard thinking, the thinking that requires losing your materialist thinking and learn how to truly survive.
Agreed, comfort & quality of life is very important, but one must learn the difference between want & need. It is a matter of priorities. Keith.
I would be a total survivalist if it was totally up to me alone. Alas, I have my wife & kids. With that I have all.the normal bills, mortgage & amenities. So I use my free time & money to be a dedicated enthusiast. Learning, hording & chatting with like minded folks.
I think most people to some extent are in the same boat GS. We are off grid & own everything we have, but we still have expenses that do not benefit us in any way. We pay rates for services we don't get or want, we pay the PP Board for services we don't get or want, we even have to pay a fee because we use composting toilets!!! Fall in arrears & the council will sell our property! I pay for a firearms license which gives the police permission to come into my house to check my guns, & yet they are also trying to restrict the use & ownership of these same firearms! I do NOT class this as living free or being self-sufficient. Without these taxes we would not need to earn money & could be totally self-reliant. No doubt another reason why so many people wish it would all hit the fan! Keith.
If you have ever been dirt poor you know what is real and what is imagined as far as the difference between wants and needs. Basically you quickly learn that you want what you need and need very little. You then get a comfortable relaxed attitude when you realize just how little you truly need to be happy. To some extent one of my happiest years was also one of the most financially disastrous.
Agreed, when my wife & I first got together we were very poor. We both worked hard. We were fortunate enough to have a roof overhead & jobs. We barely got the bills paid and Then tried to grocery shop with the leftover change. One a good week we would treat each other the a pint of ice cream. We shared that pint & felt good that together we made it thru the week. Times were tough but we felt accomplished at the same time. We survived.
Im a hillbilly redneck farmer we left grid in 78 never looked back as new became avalible we updated and improved our home and life we have reached our goal of life it took years of hard work to do this we have planned planted and work our land to survive it takes planning gear tools but mostly it takes work get up and do the work
The rule of law is good when it promotes civil discourse and liberty. When it extends itself into tyannny, promoting civil unrest & restricting or flat out denying liberty, we have a problem.
I treat it as an insurance policy. Something to have in the unlikely event I need it, but prepping doesn't rule my life.
Exactly. It is sort of an insurance policy and in my case my favorite hobby but like most things some people obsess to the point of not enjoying today because all that they can think of or do is worry about tomorrow. Some end up in an almost constant panic. I buy life insurance but I don't spend a lot of time planning my funeral. Survival is about living and getting the most out of whatever life tosses your way... not worrying about dying.
We are integrating our prepping into a homesteading lifestyle. There is no panic, just learning to be self sufficient. For example, today we are taking 6 of our meat birds ( chickens ) & processing them into the freezer. We have a simple dispatch, scalding, plucking & butchering station in the yard. When SHTF & I pray we bug in, we are all set to transition. We most likley won't have grid power, well,, no problem! We are set to keep going the "Old Fahion Way". So our hobbies prepping for fun can move us forward as simple as flipping a light switch.
You have to look at it like planting a field. You need to plant the entire thing and not put more in one part than another. Preppers that are also survivors will be the seeds for the future. I unfortunately see so many that are all prepper and very little survivors. I saw a show about a woman that has turned her urban home into a prepper paradise! She has several years worth of gourmet food stored along with a huge generator and fuel. She plans of living large if something happens. She lives in a suburban neighborhood in or near a big city. Her house is a regular brick veneer wood framed house. Prepping is about gathering together things while survival is about learning and knowing things. I may not have her several year supply of food but I know how to find food in the woods and grow a garden that will feed my family forever. I don't want to attract the kind of attention that her generator and lights are going to draw but I do know how to make and use fire to provide all the light that I need and to cook my meals with. A survivor will survive. Their actions are based on acting after something happens when you know exactly what you are facing. A Prepper does their stuff before anything happens and then hopes that they prepared for the right thing. I am a survivalist first and a prepper second.
I guess the best way to describe myself is that I'm a realist. I've mentioned earlier that our country gets hit by typhoons, floods, and earthquakes on a regular basis, and have a really rotten government. And so, we prepare for calamities that are certain to hit. I'm also pragmatic enough to accept that I still have to keep working and investing so I can increase my networth and resources to take care of my family in the advent of whatever calamity...whether physical, financial, or biological.
Truthfully there are times when I realize on an international forum like this that where I am right now, if the power went off and never came back on, I would still be in a better place and situation than a lot of the people in this world are right now. The weather is mild pretty much year around. Our summers are hot but we are used to it. Our winters though are mostly a pleasure with no snow and very few freezing nights. We are far enough from the coast that the hurricanes are mostly just lots of rain. Never an earthquake.
