As a young, single female, I guess I’m probably the furthest in most eyes from the typical profile of a self-sustaining person who prepares for anything. I am a 26 year old regular girl with no military family or background. I never really liked camping or the outdoors, and I don’t even live in an overly remote or homestead-type community.
I grew up just like most every other girl– cheering, having sleep-overs, and generally being as naïve as most girls are, unfortunately. I’m not unusually strong or unique; I’m just a girly girl. I’ve always shopped and been focused on fashion, Facebook, and flirting, like most girls. I had no idea there was any other type of girl, honestly. It wasn’t until the turn of events over the last 5-10 years that I started to question much of what is happening around the world and specifically here in the U.S. I started to read and ask questions and have what I call “an awakening”. I started to find that trouble is everywhere and that it would be common sense just to have provisions, even for a weather-related or local emergency. So began my journey, even with the odds perhaps stacked against me, as I had virtually no one agreeing with my new awareness, no family support, and have even occasionally dated guys who thought it was paranoia. Needless to say, I didn’t keep these chaps around long!
My intention in writing an article is simply to share what I have learned, the resolve and strength I have gained, and the skills I have developed in hopes that it just may inspire or encourage anyone out there who feels they are in a similar situation with their back against the wall.
My journey started with the changing of my mindset from being entertained and consuming and spending to one where I was being educated and planning and taking action. I started of course, like many, to store away clean water at my small house, to research and order long shelf-life food, and to acquire some outdoor gear that could help me survive in the event of a catastrophe, hurricane, earthquake, or even terrorism. I’m not the prophet who knows when and how this may go down, but I know I am now greatly prepared for anything that can be thrown at me– whether a natural or some unnatural thing in this crazy world.
Next, I built my own survival bag. Some call it a bug out bag or a 72-hour bag. I still don’t exactly know why the term bug-out is even used. (Ha ha.) I tailored my bag to me, as a lady, with the guidance of articles on SurvivalBlog.com. I quickly started to understand what and why each piece of gear is needed inside it. I thought through the types of items needed to pack inside in order to have tools to enable me to survive in a crisis.
I have used frugality to add weekly to my collection of gear, and I go regularly with a few other awakened friends to practice, camp out, or generally hone our basic outdoor skills. We go actually practice using the gear we have gathered, so we know how to use it and ways to adapt new skill sets. We always schedule a monthly time to use our sidearms at a range and have even taken tactical classes for women, so we are more than capable of dealing with home threats.
We are also moving in the direction of establishing a property, so as to be able to sustain and live through troubles without so called bugging out and being on the move, further risking our lives to violence or death. From all my reading, it is clear that having a fortress is far superior to walking through unknown areas with a backpack. This takes time and money, and because of my decisions to live more lean and unplug from needing so much junk and entertainment, I am succeeding in getting this ball rolling.
The primary topic I really am excited to share is the absolutely phenomenal opportunity that has been developing. I had the vision to start a private meet-up for other women, primarily. I wanted to connect with them and open their minds to see where they stood on views and action in preparing their lives and homes. I did not limit it to single females, mainly because I want to help more people, and there aren’t tons of these that prepare anyway. For the ones that do, I am certainly finding them. Many of these have busy husbands and some come from households with fairly prepared men, but the gals have little to no knowledge, experience, or confidence in these areas. I’m no expert, but I am currently ahead of the game from these in our group, and they are so hungry and open to soaking the knowledge and first-hand experience that I am so enthusiastic about sharing freely with them. We meet and share ideas and generally get to know each other and build friendships that are turning out to become life-long type trusts, like a sisterhood. We have some focused topics each time we meet, such as how to cut costs currently and free up our budgets, improving our mental toughness, creativity in preparing, and investing in appropriate gear for our families.
Other topics range from small gardening and first aid for our families to knowing how to deal with accidents and injuries, gun safety, and readying kids and spouses. We are having such a wonderful time helping each other grow and learn in a safe, fun environment. I am convincing these gals that survival is attractive and for them to take ownership of their role to have a very prepared household, whether that means as a single, like me currently, or as a married woman with many children. The idea is catching like wildfire!
I almost always bring along something tangible that I can introduce them to and explain how it works, showing them step by step the ropes. Last week’s prop was a water filtration system, which I was able to build cheaply by following some fairly easy advice from SurvivalBlog. I went by a local grocery bakery and asked if they had any empty food grade, white, 5-gallon buckets from baking supplies. They had one, and I had to return twice to get what I was after. Now I have accumulated around 15. I went home and got started. First, I cleaned them thoroughly because they had chocolate icing in them! After, a good bath, I drilled a hole in what I will call the bottom one. This is at the bottom for a spout or faucet to go in to dispense filtered water. Spouts are found easily online. I used Amazon and paid $3.95 each. Next, I drilled four small holes in the bottom one’s lid so water could drip down from above. I placed the top bucket on the bottom’s lid so I could drill both simultaneously. This gives you the opportunity to mount one to four water filters in the top reservoir bucket. I chose Berkey carbon elements. These are around $50 a piece and are also available on Amazon. I used two for the 5-gallon protocol. The holes you don’t use with a filter need plugging so unfiltered water can’t just drip down. Rubber plugs are also cheap to order from the Internet. Fill the top reservoir with tap water or pre-filtered water and give it a few hours and you will have clean, chemical free, gravity-filtered drinking and cooking water for home, camping, or in a truly devastating catastrophe, should we lose water or electricity or whatever cause of lack of resources. This is my primary water filtration system for home, and I don’t need to drink dirty chemical-filled tap water anymore, nor do I fall for the scam of bottled water, most of which is mere dirty tap water, and from own personal tests we find it has a lot of hardness and chemicals still in it. I don’t use water pitcher filters either. Nothing measures up to the standards of these water units we are building.
Soon, we plan to cover sprouting, organic gardening from heirloom seeds, and other builds, like lamps, heaters, stoves and an A/C unit with the same ole trusty 5-gallon bucket as a base.
The empowering we are experiencing is such an awesome blessing, and it is quite the rush if I do say so myself to learn so much as a young woman and pass it on and see it change other womens’ lives, especially in the way of confidence. This is invaluable. I really am thriving by doing this, and I am so grateful to be right here right now. Men are begging to get in on what we are doing now, because we are gaining so many skills, or maybe they are attracted to kick-butt women who know how to survive!
My mantra to people, especially women is always:
- You are capable and strong.
- Never make any excuse for why you aren’t prepared for a changing world we live in.
- Start taking action today and watch how much fun you will start having.
- Help each other. Connect with others, especially women who can relate with you. There’s support there.
- Be resourceful. There are common items everywhere that can be used to prepare.