What Got You Into Preparedness?

Discovering the reasons how and why others have developed a mindset of preparedness should prove to be an insightful exercise.

Lets hear from you, your “how’s and why’s”… ?

Here’s some from me…

 
As I reflect on my own reasons while I think back through time, it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific trigger event – although there were events which called out (highlighted) my preparedness mindset…

While we enter this world as minds full of mush, we become ‘who we are’ through life experiences. Everyone has different experiences but everyone also has common experiences. Throughout life we develop who we are, perhaps with a few changes along the way.

The survival instinct is ingrained in our DNA as two-legged predatory beings high up (on top) of the food chain. Our modern world has greatly suppressed that instinct for most of the masses due to a living environment in which all of our basic needs (and more) are fairly easily met – without significant threat. For some though, it seems apparent that the survival instinct is closer to the surface than others. Perhaps some (more than others) recognize the systemic risks that go hand-in-hand with our modern way of life. Or maybe it’s that some people have more common sense than others and/or the ability to see through the BS better than others – and are the same people who simply have a ‘sense’ of the need for preparedness – a heightened survival instinct. Well, whatever it is, some people ‘get it’ and some people don’t.

That said, I suppose the first time I recall my sense of intuition throwing up red flags was just prior to the dot-com bubble burst. (Yes, I’m old enough to have been through it). The vast new technology area of the new internet had led to insane stock market speculation and IPO’s. I recall having invested some of my money back then in this area (everyone was doing it!) but there was a time when I definitely realized that this thing was not sustainable. Much of it was reaching a point of euphoric insanity. I got out and sold everything (before it crashed). And guess what… IT CRASHED. The Nasdaq eventually lost 78% of it’s peak.

The next significant event was the housing bubble burst. During that time period I was living and working in the ‘high-tech’ sector in California. When I had moved out there (for the job), I had bought a modest and fairly small home on the outskirts of the region – although it required a daily commute into the city. Throughout the years that we lived there, nearly everyone we knew (friends at work, etc..) were ‘trading up’ and buying bigger houses (flipping their previous homes) because home prices were going up ‘abnormally’ quickly – which enabled significant profits on selling their existing home and moving into a much bigger and fancier home – some were outright mansions it seemed… Well, we never did. Something told me that this was unsustainable and I didn’t want to get locked into a bigger mortgage. It just didn’t feel right. Well guess what – IT CRASHED. Suddenly you had all these people with all these big mortgages and the value of their McMansions plummeted below the ‘real’ market value. The gig was up. When I left California and sold my modest home, because I had not traded up (and instead had been paying down my mortgage) I was able to make a nice profit because I was not underwater. It just seemed to me like common sense. I guess not everyone has it. The bursting of the housing bubble just reinforced my notion in being prepared, recognizing the risks before calamity and doing something about it.

9/11. When nine-eleven happened, I will never forget the moments when I first saw it happen on TV after flipping it on while getting ready for work in the morning (still living out in CA during that time). I saw the 2nd plane hit the towers live as it happened. They’re burned into my memory like a laser. That event changed me forever. We are vulnerable, and even to this day. Especially today! – given the current policies of the current ‘administration’, open borders, etc… but I digress. While reflecting back, this was the time frame in which I actively started preparing. Having just gone through the Y2K scare (which no-one really knew for sure what would happen), 911 sealed the deal.

Today, I feel that our bubble ‘economy’ is very much a false economy (not all, but lots of it) and everything that the FED (and others) have done to prop things up since 2008 has just made it worse for when it finally crashes. And I know that it will. I can feel it. And when it does, it’s going to be very, very bad. In fact I believe that it could be much worse than anything we’ve ever experienced – given the number of people who are dependent and/or ‘on the edge’. While I hope I’m wrong, this is in fact my primary motivation for today’s preparedness. I feel that (depending on the crash) it could even become quite dangerous in places. Therefore I have moved away from major population density, I am becoming more self sufficient (one never seems to be finished in that department), and I own my home outright. I was able to do this based on years of a mindset of preparedness, the survival instinct, common sense, and managing not to get drawn into the mania of the mainstream indulgences.

So, what got me into preparedness? I’m not sure. It’s just the way I am. Maybe it’s because much of my ‘training’ and career(s) has had lots to do with servicing of equipment in various technology sectors (which has lots to do with maintenance, keeping things running, spares, dealing with equip. issues and breakdowns and people who would rather ignore ‘preparedness’ because it ‘costs money’, etc..).

Now it seems that I acutely recognize that we as a nation (and much of the so called developed world) are navigating iceberg filled waters, uncharted territory, on a ship filled with 7 billion people – having gone through a staggering population growth. The world is in debt to apocalyptic amounts. We’re going to hit an iceberg. And I’m concerned that the ship will sink…

While there’s more to the story, I’ll turn it over to you. What got you into preparedness??