Category: Survival Mindset

TEOTWAWKI in a Two Bedroom Apartment at the Edge of Town, by Melanie C.

Making it through a worst case scenario in a two bedroom apartment is not my idea of a good chance of survival.  I read about others who are relocating to the American Redoubt or who have acquired sizeable land out away from town.  Those who have bunkers or cellars lined with shelves of log-term storage foods and an arsenal of weapons and ammo to protect it all; who have chickens and goats and a place to plant those seeds that come in the long-term storage can.  Then I look at myself and think, “Can’t do that, can’t afford that, maybe …


My Prepping Perspective, by Jenny O.

Waking up to the sudden realization that my safe, comfortable world as I have always known it to be was not the result of watching any “end of the world” movies or documentaries, or from reading something about it or from a friend convincing me.  I feel it was a gift, a freebie wake-up call from the heavenly powers that be.   I can’t help but think that I am supposed to be a survivor…..at least long enough to keep my children alive and healthy until they are grown and can then survive without my assistance.  My husband on the other …


The Secret Prepper, by M.D.L.

(Why I prep, and how I do so in a family that thinks I’m crazy.) In the summer of 1977 my mother dragged me to see my older brother’s Cub Scouts meeting.  I was closing in on my sixth birthday and she informed me in no uncertain terms that I would be joining.  My mother was one of the multitudes of single mom’s in my part of Brooklyn.  A neighborhood where at the time crime was high, money was tight, and involved dads were few.   The only place for many boys to find any kind of positive male role model …


When Bugging Out is Not an Option: Hunkering Down with a Quadriplegic, by Steven in Alabama

I’ve always considered myself and my family extremely blessed.  I also am a firm believer that God expects you to make the most out of what you have.  God gave me a wonderful wife and 3 healthy, strong boys.  We are a hard working family who have always had goals and planned well for the future.  We even had a bug-out plan when not many other folks even talked about such things.  Our world took a drastic turn a little over a year ago when my oldest son was injured in a high school wrestling accident.  In the blink of …


Leader, Supervisor, Mentor, by D. Hacker

Make no mistake, someone will fill the roles of Leader, Supervisor, and Mentor.  As we all know, power abhors a vacuum.  Leaders are considered to be in positions of power, in spite of the fact that many great leaders had little power and many powerful people were terrible leaders.  This article will refer to these roles as they pertain to survival situations. While the Leader, Supervisor, and Mentor might be the same person, often each of these roles fall on different individuals.  A leader is someone who can organize a group of people to achieve a common goal.  It’s someone …


Health, Self-Improvement and Self-Mastery: Survive to Thrive, by A.P.S.

   This article intends to uncover mechanisms to assist the reader in self-help, self-mastery, and self- improvement.  The topics covered are meant to provide discovery of self- improvement ideas, identification of some techniques to improve your life, and give the reader further tools to pursue a deeper dive into the subject.  The reader will come out of this article with an awareness of the many topics to improve their thoughts, feelings, emotions, physiology, and performance.  The article pulls from sports medicine, psychology, martial arts, health and fitness, and self-help guides.  To really master some of these topics, it is highly …


Making Your Home Less of a Target Once The Lights Go Out, by W.K.R. in Kansas

Like most of you I have been preparing for the bad times to come. I have made plans with food stores, water, guns and ammo, etc. In my desire for knowledge and to be as prepared as possible I’ve read anything I can get my hands on and I surf the Internet nightly, I also have an impressive library. I have gleaned what I could from all this and fortified where I can. My major concern now lies is in how to protect my family and supplies that I have worked so hard and diligently on, along with personal sacrifice …


God Invented Prepping, by M.B.F.

Consider the evidence:    Preppers throughout the world sense a coming, apocalyptic event.  If you are a prepper, God’s warnings, in part, are already clearly formed in your heart:  “A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself [knows how to escape calamities]:  but the simple pass on, and are punished”–Proverbs 22:3.  [Words in brackets mine]  In the book of Hebrews, we read of perhaps the most famous prepper of all time:  “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he …


Make Yourself Worth Saving, by John G.

The end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) has probably crossed your mind lately. It might have been just a brief news flash about a silly Mayan prophecy, or maybe you have an uncle who still thinks the Russians are gonna nuke us. More likely in our generation, our societal bonds could disintegrate thanks to erosion of our financial system. If you have not given this situation much thought, it is high time to start. The first step is to take the possibility seriously. If you cannot handle this basic prerequisite, well, Devil take the hindmost. Once you …


A Military Wife’s Perspective on Preparedness, by Laura M.

I take a different approach, but one that may prove useful for other ladies. My husband is military, so that would make me the military spouse. However, I can tell you from experience that there SHOULD be a survival guide to being a military spouse. Now, I don’t plan on making this some betty home maker guide; Because in my opinion there is so many other survival aspects that us ladies should be aware of when our husbands are away. Unfortunately, we are not aware of these survival tactics until some misfortune is staring us in the face and we …


The Time in Between the Moments, by Paul G.

So you are a prepper. You have trained yourself for survival, bought survival gear, and built up personal survival items not only for yourself, but for your family as well. You’re even thinking about how to improve your plans, modify your techniques, and seek continuing to educate yourself with additional survival skills. Then TEOTWAWKI situation happens and everything goes to heck for a day, a week, or maybe even your lifetime. There could be an economic collapse with looting situations, severe weather scenarios causing mass casualties, natural disasters wiping out the power grid, or you may even be in an …


Getting Back to My Roots — Why I am a Prepper, by Chad T.

I was born into a family of preppers.  My grandparents were all farmers and lived through the Great Depression in the Midwest.   My parents both grew up on farms and came from large families.  While my folks would not label themselves today as preppers, they would consider themselves as independent and self-reliable.  In order to understand my journey as a prepper, you have to go back a few years.  Early into my parents’ marriage, my dad just got out of the navy and worked in various cities and towns, from Texas to Minnesota.  The largest town we lived in was …


Letter Re: Home Invasion Prevention

Sir, I’ve often wondered what the “typical” home-invasion victim’s house looks like.  Does it have high fences; does it sit perched on a hill with a beautiful view; are BMWs seen entering & leaving?  Perhaps.  I wonder if home invaders (or burglars, for that matter) even bother with modest homes that have 20-year-old cars parked in front?  Probably not so much. What I’m saying is that, even if you have the means to live well, part of OPSEC should probably include maintaining the appearance of being a low-value target.  Making your home into an obvious fortress will naturally cause those with …


Spiritual Preparedness for Hard Times, by ZeBo

In preparing for hard times, it has long been my belief that the first priority of Christian men and women must be preparing spiritually for the difficult road ahead. The church and culture of the United States have grown very soft, and, unlike our forefathers, most Christians in America today have little experience coping with hard times. We live in a culture that believes in having an insurance policy or material solution for any crisis that life brings our way. This applies down to the smallest personal tragedies, with only a handful of exceptions, and leaves us woefully underprepared to …


Letter Re: Details Emerging on the Outlaw Maine Hermit

Hey Jim, This guy lived within 30 miles from me for 27 years. An interesting story to be sure. I’d like to bail him out just for the chance to talk but for $5,000 it would be too expensive. This is not wilderness. It is a 30 minute walk from Pine Tree Camp – I have been there a few times. My buddy in high school worked there as a cook. Here is some news coverage about him, from another source. Keep up the good work. – Bubby JWR Replies: After you wrote me to mention this, I found an …