Power Outage – How Will You Deal Long Term?

I think we have all had to deal with a power outage for a day or two. Some of us have had the experience of being without power for 5 to 7 days. What if you had to survive and adapt to a power outage for 3 weeks or longer? Can you imagine that? Can you manage? Let’s say we are struck by a natural or man-made EMP (electromagnetic pulse), we could be in a power outage for a very long time. I’m sure most of you are ready with the basic things, like, candles, flashlights, some extra food, and a means to cook your food. Do you have enough for weeks? Months?

Rather than talking about the basic things every household should have, let’s talk about some things most people don’t think about regarding power outage. Let’s talk about human reaction. A few days in a power outage is tolerable, but after several days or longer, you will begin to notice people stressing, nervous, and going stir crazy. Realistically, many people cannot go through a day without their laptop, cell phone, iPhone or iPad, HDTV, or other vices.

 

Here is a list of a few situations that you may have to deal with.

Children – It’ll be tough dealing with younger children who won’t be able to watch ‘Bubble Guppies’ or ‘Sponge Bob’. Keeping them occupied will be a large enough task for you.

Little kids love toys. Instead of electronic ‘babysitting’, you will need to be creative, the way it used to be, and come up with solutions with what is on hand. It’s a good time to teach them things too!

Teens –  I think a lot of them will become very bored very quickly. There will be no video games or the ability to hop on facebook.

Even with electronic gadgetry, teens become bored. That’s just the way they are (we were too at that age). Recruit them as a helper and assign responsibilities that they can be in charge of for themselves.

Smokers – A smoker that has already smoked all of their cigarettes and can’t buy more due to the power outage and lack of distribution, will be ‘cranky’, to say the least. Are you a smoker or an ex-smoker? You may know the feeling! What will you do when you run out of cigarettes?

I suppose you can buy cartons ahead of time, but they will run out eventually too. Maybe you can quit smoking now (or be forced to quit later), and it won’t be as big an issue for you, plus you’ll be healthier (a no brainer) and will save lots of money!

Drinkers – A family member or anyone that is used to having a few beers or alcoholic drinks after work everyday, and now they can’t, may start getting irate. Are you one of them? How do you feel if you don’t have that drink every night? What about full fledged alcoholics? They will become desperate, quickly.

Again, you could stock up on alcohol, which itself will make for a very valuable barter item (along with cigarettes). Or, you could wean yourself off the dependency. There’s really no other way.

People with medical issues – What if you have a family member that has daily medications or oxygen? Are you prepared to deal with that type of situation if the meds or supplies run out?

Medicines and medical supplies will run out. If someone needs it to survive, it may be the end of the road. Dealing with that circumstance will be difficult at best. Stock up now on what you can.

Adults – Let’s say you have adult members in your family, or perhaps neighbors that are your friends. After 4 or 5 days of a power outage, even the adults who have been dealing with the issues, will be getting a little stir crazy from the stress of ‘being without’, including their TV. Face it, almost every adult watches some TV in the evening. For many, it’s a way of unwinding from the day and relaxing.

Are you ready to help alleviate this problem? Perhaps it’s time to invite the adults for a ‘game night’ to play some cards or a board game.This is a nice way to get the adults together to discuss what they are doing to deal with the power outage. Perhaps you can help them with something they are lacking. Playing a game, by candle light will provide a bit of normalcy and stress relief.

 

If you are a prepper and you’re reading this article, that means you are interested in the topic, and how to deal with life after the power outage. Prepare now. Really think about the situations discussed above, or situations that might be unique to your family.

 

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