One thing a lot of preppers overlook is the potential discomfort of a survival situation. They stock up and prepare as though everything will remain exactly as it is now, except they’ll have to rely on dehydrated food instead of fresh ingredients. In some scenarios, this is true – take, for example, the recent lockdown.
But in more extreme scenarios, your life will be anything but comfortable, and this is something Selco and I try to get across to people. Many preppers refuse to fathom a life in which they won’t have time or facilities to bake a batch of muffins. We call this Dehydrated Blueberry Muffin Syndrome. Get more details in the video below. (Note: the video won’t appear if you have an ad blocker on.)
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Survival may be gritty and difficult, as it was in Selco’s situation. It’s not just like life is now, but without electricity.
What are the 5 Rs?
Here’s an explanation of the Five Rs I mentioned in the video. They highlight the sequences you have to be prepared to deal with depending on INTENSITY and/or DURATION of a disastrous event:
- REDUCE the impact on your lifestyle or routine. Many events are over within 72 hrs. With adequate preparation, you should feel little to no interruption to your daily life.
- REPAIR. By understanding the nature of the threat. Your residence and life situation, you can anticipate by competence or cost things that may well need repairing in order to RETURN TO NORMAL.
- REBUILD. This can be both physically (Think a beyond repair storm-damaged house) or ‘structural’. A business that has suffered significant disruption or loss and cannot necessarily continue exactly as before…
- RE-ROLE or RETIRE. This is primarily in relation to work. Your job or business cannot continue or no longer exists. You may have to re-role to a different line of work, or depending on assets held, insurance due, and other factors early retirement (typically coupled with downsizing) actually is an option.
- RELOCATE. Can be tied with 4. but also can be because of 2 and 3. (Hurricane Katrina and Chernobyl offer good examples) Continuing where you currently are is just either undesirable or is simply not an option.
What are your thoughts?
How much are you prepping for comfort as opposed to survival? Is this something you had considered before? Share your thoughts in the comments.
About Toby
Toby Cowern has an extensive background in the military, emergency services, risk management, and business continuity, combined with applied wilderness and urban survival skills. He discusses personal safety, security, and the crossover of military skills to the average civilian.
Once again this site shares practical information, written by those who have ” been there/done that”.
mood booster when your down and out you need something to make you forget how bad things are food helps it can make you sadusfide for a little bit.
These thoughts are always in the back of my mind. In fact, the retirement option is something I’m considering.
A couple of years ago, I opted for early retirement. We’re by no means rich, but the field in which I used to work was becoming so PC and then leftist, I had to bail. There was no way I could continue in that line of work without damaging the eternal souls of my clients and myself.
I sleep better at night now, even though I have to pay a lot more attention to finances.
“We’re by no means rich”
I was only thinking about this this morning. Nearly 10 years ago I was on the heart attack speedway trying to keep up with a business that I had built over a 20 year period that was slowly killing me – and I was very unhappy. I got out, got all 20 employees a job elsewhere, sold all the assets, paid down all my debt (it took till this year to get it gone) and now live a very simple and fulfilling life. With a coffee on the porch this morning I thought about how much my income had dropped (by around 2/3) over the years and yet without debt I am living better than I ever have. I thought to myself I am never going to be wealthy but at that moment on the porch I felt like I was one of the richest men alive.
Sometimes (perhaps even often) we confuse wealth with what it truly means to be rich. Being rich (richness in life) really has nothing to do with material things or money. It is something you have to strive for to find within yourself.
I had just seen some offhand reference to this syndrome, and paid no attention. Toby’s explanation made perfect sense. And I need to look into my preps – not that I have that mix, but I think most of my things are for comfort vs survival.
Think I’ll have to ponder on this topic for a bit! thank you
Yes, no, maybe
I think we all have different ideas of SHTF. I was in the Balkans. If that happens here it will be much worse because of personal firearms ownership on the front end. The death toll will surpass most expectations in the first 48-72hrs. The first week will blow anything y’all saw outta the water.
Dehydrated blueberry muffins.
In a full blown war event am I gonna be baking muffins. No
In a long term pandemic where I tapped into my preparedness items. Yes
In an economic event. Post weather event. EMP. Maybe and probably.
I see zero reason just to have rice n beans or forage for rats. I can afford it and storage is no issue. I know exactly how much change we will endure in a major event. That’s the reason I prepare. If I lose it I lose. I can’t control everything. Hell a F5 Tornado can can take it in a blink. The BIG difference is I’m ready to defend it, have a place and a team AND the means and y’all were not and didn’t.
Stuff without skills and mindset and mental/physical abilities etc are more hope than plan. That’s the difference in a prepper and a survivalist.
Can the idea of changing as little as possible be taken to an extreme as with the carpet cleaner? Absolutely.
I hear and see preppers with all electric in the HOA pretending all the time. They think they are gonna drive the super duty from here to Idaho and refuel and get snacks along the way.
But now ask yourself and Selco what I could have got for that case of dehydrated muffins in the 90s in Sarajevo. Barter was everywhere for everything. You wanna muffin and I need the garden hoed. We bounced borders with a carton of cigs all the time in the 90s. A zippo got you places and stuff too.
BTW I don’t have any or do I? No one outside the group truly knows.
Have exercised most options, re
Located, retired early, and changed my method of living to a bartering type arrangement. I have a skill set ( Marine Engineer, Welding Engineer, Boiler operator, Marine Electrician) that allow me to pick up almost any odd job required. Today took a call for a bad pool pump and traded some great wine to repair. Next an electrical short on a back hoe starter netted 30 pounds of organic beef. And finally, repairing a hay cutter rewarded me with a set of all terrain tires that fit my truck.
The people that call trust me, will share resources and help in need. We all believe in our second amendment rights and long clear lines of fire. I firmly believe that it is necessary to have a small group who can trust and supply each other.
I live a pretty good life, have friends I trust, and all the food I can store. I live in a safe place, and can rest assured I have people who have my back. So glad I left the beast ( 20 plus years in San Francisco area). There are plenty of great places out there, just have to take the leap of faith
I’m a bit late to the party, but I have been pondering this for a few days. Comfort vs. Survival.
To be sure, this is a good thing to think about and I have to admit that probably a lot of what I have done in the prepping side is for comfort. However –
My spouse and I are older (nearing 70 for me). When I think of the things we have stockpiled and bought on the prepping side, I see mostly “comfort”. Sure, I want to survive, but at our ages, being “comfortable” probably equates to “survival”.
For example – the fairly small solar generator will certainly help to pump water from our well. Otherwise, we would have to haul heavy buckets uphill from the river. Much more comfortable to pump it and to me, water is for survival. I also might use that generator to run a fan to sleep more comfortable on a hot summer night.
I grow vegetables in a greenhouse. Really “comfortable” to not have to bend and weed a garden. But the produce can help us “survive”.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. If I were in my 20’s or 30’s, I would be a lot tougher, and could do all those tasks that mean survival without the comfort of things to help, but at this stage of life, those comfort things could actually mean my survival.
I don’t want to feel less because I choose them.