I had a prepping epiphany the other day that I want to share. There's a difference in preparing for short-term situation like power-outages, being stranded somewhere, and dealing with natural disasters, and how you prepare for terminal grid-down scenarios like zombie apocalypse or government collapse. That's pretty intuitive, but what I realized is that I've been limiting my ability to prepare for different scenarios by trying to overlap the preps.
For instance, I find myself only storing enough batteries to get through a couple of weeks with flashlights, because in the short-term I will be able to buy more, and in the long-term it's not feasible to keep using battery powered items. What I just realized though, is that there's a benefit in stowing away enough of the items that are considered modern conveniences, not sustainable or practical in a long-term scenario, to ease our minds and bodies into the new, rugged life style of a long-term event.
We spend a lot of time putting away items to feed ourselves, provide medical aide, get water, cook, heat, etc... but what about the mental component, especially with children involved who will be in shell shock without game boys and cell phones. Why not keep enough treats around to boost spirits and reward yourselves for enduring the hardships. By the time you run out of those things, you and yours will be more proficient and accustomed to your new life.
I'd also like to remind folks to store written information, i.e. DIY books, field guides, medical references, dutch oven cookbooks, etc.. to prepare for no youtube vids and google searches. It's great to read as much DIY info as possible now and watch the vids, but you can't remember all of the details, so put a larger emphasis on accumulating physical copies of books and printing instructions.
I'm also of the mindset that, instead of reading DIY books and reference books, I should build up my reference library, skimming the pertinent info to make sure that I'm prepping the right items, but focus my real reading efforts on books that provide insight/perspective into what it takes to endure the kind of hardships that might be encountered in the absence of goods and technologies we're accustomed to- in the western US, "No life for a lady" and "The prairie traveler" are great books to understanding challenges we may face. We may think that we are running all of the potential scenarios through our minds, but not being in the particular situation we're preparing for, we may be missing some key components.
Keep in mind that I picture a future that's a more extreme version of the the 1930's dust bowl, and less like The Road, 28 days/weeks later, or walking dead. Naive perhaps, but it seems more realistic to me and doesn't hurt my brain and my heart as much...
