What to do if you are not a survivalist and have been told to “be prepared” by everyone you know.

The survivalist lifestyle is not completely how I define myself. Let me give a bit of information on some personal preferences in how I live my life. First, I have defined camping for the last couple of years as motel 6. My dried food comes from Starbucks and should only be consumed when desperate for food. How did I respond to people asking me what I would do when the big one hit? Well, I figured I would cross that bridge at some point but not in my immediate future. I was just too busy doing this life thing. Technology is just so easy and I have been lulled into a sense of peace as everything clicks away as it should.

Okay, well it would seem with the current natural disasters experienced in the past year, I started to reconsider my standard operating beliefs.

So, I decided to get “educated”. Now there are a lot of books and posts and videos each telling me what to do and how to do it. Information flowed on everything from surviving a bear attack to building a raft during a flood to the best way to build a fire using sticks. Delightful, but as you may account for yourself, overwhelming!

I perused and flipped and noticed one resounding theme from all of these thought-out resources. I really needed a simple and alternative “do it all” for possible chaotic experiences.

I kind of formed my own survival methodology, with the help of books, articles, and  local CERT training. A “do it all” of sorts.

What is it? Simple. Take a deep breath. Slow things down in your mind while breathing. And Focus. With this done, I next internalized the environment. Problems, Priorities, and Solutions. First, I needed to see the problems, sort them into priorities, and then solve. I also decided to take the CERT training so that I could practice this and brush up on my CPR and first aid.

CERT Training

I began absorbing information, talking with friends, watching videos, and reading magazines. It was my hobby all of a sudden. I found myself reveling in the thought of disaster just to test my new found knowledge. I would talk with friends and we would present disaster scenarios to each other and discuss what each of us would do. I learned so much but mainly, I learned to double check my first instinct by slowing things down and thinking again, then stopping and evaluate again before running into full action.

From earthquakes to floods to storms to car accidents, each scenario depicted unique variables that would present new outcomes based on my knowledge. First Aid, food storage, water-use and storage all became part of a universal language as I amassed knowledge.

Of course during this time I found my “equipment”. The items that I have selected as a part of my own preparedness dialogues are a really great multi-tool and knife. I keep my multi-tool  and urban knife with me at all times. With those items and the information spinning around in my head, I feel confident that I can survive and also be able to help others through anything!