How Do You Adapt When the Rules Are Constantly Changing?

by Joanna Miller

As soon as it became apparent last summer that Covid was not going to kill everyone within the year, I would occasionally hear people joke that November 4 (aka: Election Day) would be the magic cure. 

Well, they were wrong.

Dr. Fauci waited until Biden’s inauguration to give an update on COVID-19

Dr. Fauci made his return to the Whitehouse on January 21 at a press briefing. During the briefing, Fauci said about the virus, “Right now, it looks like it might actually be plateauing in the sense of turning around.”

Read the entire press briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, January 21, 2021, here.

Or, watch the interestingly-timed briefing in the video below.

Constantly changing rules, numbers, and stats make it difficult to discern truth from fiction

A few months ago, I wrote about how often the facts about COVID change, and none of this surprises me. This “game” goes beyond party politics; I believe the powers that be want to keep all the regular joes in a state of panic. Daisy has reported from the very beginning that the numbers did not add up.

For example, even the CDC admits flu cases are low this year despite a higher number of tests. Maybe the hand-washing, sanitizing, and social-distancing due to Covid has prevented the flu from spreading. Perhaps hospitals have reported things differently this year due to the financial incentives associated with reporting patients as Covid positive. 

Regardless of the reason, one would think that the dramatic decrease in flu cases would be cause for celebration. Not so. The still CDC urges people to get flu shots because “diseases can strike at any time.” That may be true. However, why are the people in charge of our nation’s health not concerned about the mental health impacts of constantly bombarding the public with messages about one dangerous disease after another?

When do we get a break from the fear and panic?

It seems like the public is teased daily with the thought of going “back to normal.” However, only IF we do exactly as they say and get the vaccine. I don’t have a problem with informed adults receiving the vaccine by choice. I do have a problem with the consolidation of power and the exertion of control.  

The timing of Fauci’s announcement about seeing the light at the end of the Covid tunnel cannot be coincidental. My personal prediction is that things will ease up a little bit. However, with the new mutant strains of Covid, government authorities will have an endless excuse to impose lockdowns as they see fit. Covid will continue to mutate – that’s what viruses do. 

And with the mainstream media reporting every new mutation as though it’s more dangerous than the last, the fuel for those excuses to lock things down will remain readily available. 

As the World Economic Forum’s event comes to an end, what will the results be?

The World Economic Forum met this past week (January 25-29) for The Davos Agenda event. The report on the website reads as follows:

The Davos Agenda is a pioneering mobilization of global leaders to shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed in this challenging new context. It is essential for leaders from all walks of life to work together virtually for a more inclusive, cohesive and sustainable future as soon as possible in 2021. To this end, the World Economic Forum has served for more than 50 years as a trusted platform where leaders from business, government, international organizations, civil society and academia convene to address critical issues at the start of each year.

As these participants are deciding our fate and the fate of the world, what actions can we take?

“Prepping” is probably the most obvious answer to anyone reading the articles on The Organic Prepper. One of the things I most enjoy about this online community is the massive prepping facets discussed. There have been plenty of articles written about Building a Better Bug Out Bag, and even Often Over-Looked Necessities. You can find bug-out plans, excellent articles on how to survive SHTF events and links to books with even more useful information. You can find just about everything you need on The OP, including How to Prep for 2021. 

I’m not an expert in any of these particular fields. I grew up in the suburbs, and though we were low-income, I still grew up with the mentality that if I did well in school, worked hard, and married a go-getter, my life would continually improve.  

Well, it didn’t.

I learned the hard way that the Universe doesn’t follow my plans

The loss of my brother in my mid-twenties kicked off a long bout with depression. Due to a combination of poor decisions and bad luck, I found myself in my early thirties divorced with three young children, unemployed, living in an inconsistently maintained small home on four non-irrigated acres, thousands of miles away from family and friends. 

Finally realizing I needed to change my frame of mind, I shed the suburban-nice-girl image, both outwardly and internally. With the help of my extended family, neighbors, and YouTube, I have been able to make my house comfortable. I had become a capable gardener while living in the suburbs. I have since expanded my skills to raising poultry and livestock. Along with the animals came a crash course in building various types of fencing and housing. 

Basically, my transition from suburban consumer to a (somewhat, partially, still-learning) producer and prepper began with divorce and my move to the country. My point is simply this: most of us can endure more than we think. 

Is the United States in a slow-burning SHTF situation?

One of the OP writers, Fabian, describes living in a third world country as a long, slow-burning SHTF situation. I wonder if that’s where the U.S. currently stands. Part of me thinks that the crash of 2008 was our last chance to course-correct and still maintain our status as a first-world country. Maybe if we had let the big banks fail then, we could have avoided some of our debt problems now. Now, it seems, we are in too deep, and there is no way of paying off the debt.

Reason and observation tell me that Americans will likely have to get used to a much lower standard of living than anticipated. I know that the Davos crowd and tech elites want Americans to make do with less. Our ability to deal with it does not excuse their high-handedness, their willingness to treat people as machines to be shut on or off as needed.  

If this is a slow-burning SHTF, we need to prepare our minds now

Ask yourself, in the long, slow, downward slide we may be in for, “What do we need to live a good life?” Basic necessities come first, of course; healthy food and reliable shelter. Warm clothes may be high on the list, depending on where you live. After that, answers become more personal. A fulfilling career, happy family relationships, solid friendships, and access to nature are things that most people need. The level of importance varies significantly between individuals.

I’m not telling anyone to go and quit their day job. But it’s worth bearing in mind that humanity has only had tech giants for a couple of decades and industry magnates for a few centuries. Humanity survived for a long time as little farmers, hunters, and craftspeople of various types. We need to find out now where we fit into that kind of scenario. And we need to understand, as Selco has repeatedly warned us, that when the SHTF, the rules change.

Outlook, mindset, and resilience matter

As Terry Trahan writes, “…mindset always comes first, for a reason. Without it, no amount of training, or especially gear, will work. You have to have your mind tuned properly. You need to be able to prioritize what needs to be done when, how to do it, and be able to perform the actions needed to get the job done.”

The worst years of my life were between 2013 and 2015. The very worst was the year after the divorce. I was stuck in a house in poor condition, without the skills or money to fix it. And, I had the mindset that I didn’t deserve any of this.

Around 2018, things began to change. I became more competent at managing household problems. I made far fewer expensive mistakes. Whether I had to tackle a plumbing issue or chase down animals, I had gotten far better at dealing with my day-to-day problems. My vastly improved countenance at that time had to do with feeling more confident in my living situation and finding a church community. I became more resilient.

I’ve got a house of teens and pre-teens these days. We’re pretty happy together, and we’re content without Disney vacations, central air-conditioning, fashionable clothes, or more than one bathroom.  

My kids surprise me sometimes with their resilience. Some time ago, my water heater burst. We had to shut off the water to the house for a couple of days while the heater got repaired. I told the kids I would need them to help haul buckets of water from my neighbor’s well. I expected some whining; instead, my kids said, “We need to haul water? We’re just like medieval peasants!” Sure enough, they hauled water those days and made a game out of it. 

Prosperity has been equated with virtue for far too long

We need to return to the basics and ask ourselves some elementary questions: What does it mean to be a good person? How can we struggle outwardly for survival and inwardly be at peace with ourselves? How do we handle financial hardship without seeing ourselves as failures?  Let’s discuss these questions in the comments.

It’s easy to feel powerless, but it’s worth bearing in mind that humans have survived a lot. We may have more and more limited control over where we can go and how we can earn money, but we can control our mindset. The United States was originally founded to be a place where people could live freely, without undue harassment by government authorities. While those ideals were never perfectly implemented, they are worth remembering. 

Have faith (whichever faith feeds your soul), build your preppertoire, and stay gray.