Author of The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival and the online course SHTF Survival Boot Camp
Talking with people who are involved in prepping and meeting them in my survival courses shows me some problems that people have while they meet other survivalists, in real life or online. This is true whether they are trying to learn something or while they are trying to transfer their knowledge to other preppers.
In the end, it all comes to the few same problems that can really get in the way of your survival. One of these problems is unwillingness to be uncomfortable. Whether it is physical discomfort or mental (hearing things you do not want to hear) it is a very real problem if you cannot handle this.
Everything else is a matter of will, skills, and equipment.
The “Mr. Anderson” phenomenon
There is a man – we’ll call him Mr. Anderson here – he is interested in survival and where the world is going these days. Of course, he is looking for information about these subjects on blogs.
And then he finds the information that is worth reading and following.
But one day he decides with righteous indignation to stop to following that blog because he read in that blog articles with words like “f**k” or “s**t”.
He furiously dismisses everything in that article. And not just that article but the whole blog because words like that clearly show to him that the author is not a good or decent person.
He refuses to read one word more.
There are two very important points here in terms of survival and prepping.
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Have you taken Selco’s online courses yet?
Taking the online courses are the next best thing to getting over to Europe and studying with him personally.
- SHTF Survival Boot Camp teaches you both urban and wilderness survival skills, primitive first aid, and lessons on violence that you’ll never forget.
- One Year in Hell is Selco’s original course that shares the dark truth about what it was like to live in a city under siege. He talks about the signs he missed, what happened when chaos erupted, the grim sanitation conditions, and how his life completely changed.
If you want the real deal from a legend who has lived through the SHTF, these are the online courses for you.[/page_section]
Our system made us this way.
Mr. Anderson is the product of our system and society, and we are all Mr. Anderson to some extent, or at least we were at some period of time.
Mr. Anderson is a man who is preparing for the time when it all goes to hell, for the moment when there is no law, food, or water. When he will be forced to do things that are hard…
Mr. Anderson is preparing for hell, and he can not cope with the word sh*t?
Sorry folks, but that kind of preparing is just that – sh*t.
You can not prepare for a really bad time based on feelings and the norms that system gives us today – in normal times. Otherwise when SHTF you will end up again guess where?
In sh*t.
Get out of your comfort zone and look for correct information. That’s all that matters. For a lot of people reading an article with “bad” words is exactly that – getting out from the comfort zone.
You think you are prepared to shoot at people who will attack your family? But you cannot cope with bad words?
Nope, you are not prepared.
Get used to being uncomfortable.
One of the main takeaways from my survival courses for me is that everybody wants to be prepared for hard times but the majority do not want to feel uncomfortable during the course.
Even worse, most of the folks are preparing for SHTF but do not want to feel uncomfortable even when SHTF.
During the courses, getting students outside of comfort zone is different from student to student, sometimes it is sleeping in an abandoned building with the possibility of some (some) danger.
For others, it is simply lack of functional shower.
But the majority of them usually get into the situation where they test their skills and knowledge while they are outside of their comfort zone, and that moment is actually when you see that your skills and knowledge are actually good.
Train outside your comfort zone or you’re going to have a bad time.
For those people who never tested themselves while they outside comfort zone problem is much bigger, simply because they do not realize they have a problem in the first place.
Usually, the majority of them put a lot of effort into preparing themselves to be always comfortable when SHTF. In other words, they want to live completely same life when SHTF as they are living it today and they investing money in that.
In essence, there is nothing wrong with investing money in having a life when SHTF being same as it looks today – if you are a multimillionaire.
If you are not then you are usually mixing up two important topics: necessity vs. comfort.
Necessity is what you really have to have. Comfort is only after you’ve covered all the necessities.
Your real survival skills will show up in the moment when comfort is gone.
If your comfort is gone while you are reading survival posts with bad words do not run, count it like being outside of comfort zone, your real learning may start there actually.
Mr. Anderson just wants to feel comfortable all the time.
Mr. Anderson probably gonna have really bad time once when SHTF.
Wake up, Mr. Anderson.
About Selco:
Selco survived the Balkan war of the 90s in a city under siege, without electricity, running water, or food distribution. He is currently accepting students for his next physical course here.
In his online works, he gives an inside view of the reality of survival under the harshest conditions. He reviews what works and what doesn’t, tells you the hard lessons he learned, and shares how he prepares today.
He never stopped learning about survival and preparedness since the war. Regardless of what happens, chances are you will never experience extreme situations as Selco did. But you have the chance to learn from him and how he faced death for months.
- Read more of Selco’s articles here.
- Buy his PDF books here.
- Buy his #1 New Release paperback, The Dark Secrets of Survival here.
- Take advantage of a deep and profound insight into his knowledge by signing up for his online course SHTF Survival Boot Camp.
- Learn the inside story of what it was really like when the SHTF with his online course One Year in Hell.
Real survival is not romantic or idealistic. It is brutal, hard and unfair. Let Selco take you into that world.
Wow. Very perceptive, SELCO! This may be your best article yet on Daisy’s site. Thanks!
Absolutely correct. Anybody who is that freaking sensitive and self righteous and snowflakey,cant handle the truth anyway.
You are so right, Richard. I’m a 72 yr old woman & I’ve been known to use a few expressive words myself. (Spent a lot of my life around cowboys. Haha) Good grief, people, they’re just words. If your lily-white self can be corrupted that easily I don’t want you on my team.
Interesting… so the premise is if someone doesn’t want to needlessly dirty themselves by hearing or reading useless cursing then they are not willing to live outside their comfort zone when it comes to protecting their family… I was always taught to eat the meat and spit out the bones. This article is bones but I will come back again to see if there’s any meat.
He’s saying exactly what you did – you may not like something, but it doesn’t mean that you write off everything the person has to say. 🙂 We’re on the same page, KSH.
The most important thing I learned in the military was how to put up with being physically uncomfortable and get my work done regardless. This experience has been hugely helpful to me in civilian life. And, of course, it causes me to greatly appreciate all the home comforts I do have now.
I agree with “Mr. Anderson”. I will also be unsubscribing. I can easily find online survival/prep info that does not use foul language. My choice. I do not choose to pollute my mind UNNECESSARILY with garbage. Good=bye Daisy and Selco. 🙂
Also, since I have been car-jacked at gun point, had a knife against my throat, been stalked, etc., and survived all these horrible things, I feel quite sure that I can cope outside my comfort zone when the situation demands that I do.
It took me reading the article above a couple times and a couple hours thinking before I made this comment. Respectfully, it would appear that you were looking for an excuse to unsubscribe before this article.
When reading the article, my understanding is that the use of profanity was solely an example for people getting out of their comfort zone.
I do not subscribe, but do check constantly Daisy’s blog. Personally I find most of the survival information rather pollyanna. Still I have respect for Daisy and what she is trying to accomplish. I have great respect for Selco.
My family has now survived 450 days of SHTF, protecting our children from a pedophile, crooked lawyers and judges. It has cost us everything, and in a few months from now unless something changes, i will not even be able to make a post as this. If interested you may read more of our situation at http://www.justmeasurescs.com “a plea for my wife and children”. Again it has cost us everything. I will for whatever it is worth reemphasize that when SHTF (for a long period of time) for you or anyone that your comfort zone will be destroyed. It will cost you. You will do things you never thought possible, work harder than ever before and honestly as a believer in Jesus, rely on Him unlike anytime before.
Thank you Daisy for working with Selco. Thank you for your hard work. God Bless you all.
Natty
Respectfully, I do choose my newsletters carefully. I do not keep those that make excuses for the use of foul language. Worse yet, some newsletters even denigrate the people who are disgusted by the foul language.
I am sorry that your family has had such a difficult and terrifying time.
Good one!
Wow. I don’t understand people being so afraid of “bad” words. I’ve always wondered who decided that certain generic words—ones like sh*t, h*ll, f*ck, d*mn, god, etc, that aren’t applying negative labels to a group of people— would be considered “bad” in the first place. I have always used pretty much the gamut of those expletive intensifiers, though I try to be mindful of the situation (because I’ve seen people who overdo it and their message gets lost). In my experience I have found that the people who blanch and faint away at the use of expletive intensifiers are also those who are—for whatever reason–also those who are less likely to care about the well-being of their fellow man when it comes down to it.
“Foul-mouthed” is actually the negative label they have earned. Perhaps they wear it proudly. I don’t know. I cannot read their minds. I do know that civility has been torn to shreds in this country. Did our grandmothers speak the way you and others do? I never heard foul language spoken in front of women when I was growing up. Now it seems that some women are the worst offenders.
FYI: I and others are not “afraid” of bad words. “In my experience, I have” NOT “found that people who dislike foul language are also those who are less likely to care about the well-being of their fellow man when it comes down to it.”
In my own experience, I have found that some of these same foul-mouthed people even judge the people who do not speak with foul language to not be caring people. Thankfully, I do not share their judgment.
Where did we come to in our culture where ‘expletive intensifiers’, aka cursing and vulgar language, has not only become the norm, it is now praised as being some sort of character trait if you are going to survive and take care of your fellow man? Do you have children? I do, and for some reason, it matters to me how their mind and morality is developed. If their daddy hangs around vulgar tongued, disrespectful tough guys, they will emulate that character and where does it end, especially when disaster strikes? We need less ‘tough guys’ and more people that just do what is right no matter the repercussions.
Let me get this straight, someone who doesn’t care about their language and how it affects others is now going to have the moral virtue to care for their fellow man if there is a disaster? Logically it seems the direct opposite. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I’d rather rely on someone who cares about his/her words – they are a window into his/her heart.
If this whole premise wasn’t so damaging it would be laughable. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m sad to say disaster may be closer than we think as our cultural norms are so twisted from the truth.
Amen. Bet Mr. Anderson supports the purveyor of the use of Sh*t Hole countries and the extreme bigotry and cruelty that he stands for.
I can see Mr. Anderson’s point of view, being a Christian myself. I do not use those words in my normal vocabulary. But like you say in the article, we have to get outside our comfort zones. For once the RESET happens, nice politically correct words are going to far and few between by the average survivor. As Christians were are also not to judge our neighbor who is trying to teach us important information. but take the beam out of our own eye before we take the sliver out of our neighbor’s eye.
Also, getting out of comfort zone means getting in shape. After the RESET I want to be able to use my bow to get some meat. So that means that now every day as part of my exercise program, I stretch my bow for 40 seconds (around a 50# draw) and then repetitively draw the bow 30 times.
I read to shoot your bow once a day, because that is how many shots you get when hunting. Each day determine by your own success whether or not you eat that day. Sobering thoughts.
Excellent article, while I don’t say those words and would rather not hear them, I can see the importance of getting out of my comfort zone.
Judge the sin, not the sinners heart. Only God judges the heart correctly.
Evil proliferates and dominates when good people say and do nothing about the evil things that are happening around them and to them.
What will be next? People screaming obscenities at other people that they disagree with? People chasing other people out of restaurants while screaming obscenities at them because they didn’t vote like them? Clearly that is already happening in our country. Civility is pretty much absent from an ever-increasing number of people in our country. Let’s not excuse incivility nor join in it. Let’s set a good example instead and expose incivility for what it is: Incivility is a diabolical attack on the dignity of each individual human person.
The way this makes sense to me is that I view a person who can control what They Say as someone who can control themselves. What we are fighting in SHTF situation is a lot of bad feelings welling up and clouding our judgment. To swear or not to swear is not the question. But truly being able to keep our feelings in check so that we are clear to make good decisions is how we will want to respond when things truly get uncomfortable. That is the issue. Keeping my mouth shut is a good place to start. At least I know I think better that way.
I’ve been at the raw end of the stick when people have unleashed their worst words on me. All it does is make me want to fight — which is what they want me to do so they can escalate the disagreement. Even if people don’t use bad words, provocative, scornful and mocking styles of approaching others are just as uncomfortable. Being at peace with others in SHTF will be more difficult and stressful to maintain than all of the bad scenarios we can think of. Our interactions with others will determine a good deal of whether we will survive or not. Why heap more angst on our discomfort with a toxic tongue and adding to alienation?
IMHO, fighting words are for when in reality there is nothing left to do but fight. However, a silent warrior is a focused warrior. People who swear continuously are always fighting and not thinking past the adrenaline rush of their words or whatever ego-boost they get from their feeling of freedom to say what they want. I don’t see swearing as strong-making when people are putting others on the defensive in a survival situation.
My point is that maintaining perspective is what will keep me alive when I am uncomfortable. When I look at someone who swears freely I see a loose cannon and I turn my truster off. It doesn’t toughen me at all.
If you choose not to stand the heat, that is your decision… there’s the kitchen door. To each his/her own.
I try to be open minded in order to get as much information as possible. Yes there are times I’m offended but that happens almost everyday in life anymore , so I’ve as everyone should learned to just look past it a little colorful language can’t stand in the way of much needed information.
Lots of “preppers” are snowflakes. They are simply supplying those who can adapt.
Selco is the man
Snowflakes, f*ggots, people who begin a sentence with “mmmm ..” as if they’re rolling their tongues in their mouth are just as irritating as people who punctuate their posts with four letter words for bravado effect. Both are posers, so skip over their posts if they have nothing to say. That includes the Sgt. Rock type using upper case lettering to emphasize they know what is the right and only to do something. BS. Listening to them will get you killed while they wander off leaving you holding a bag of poop. Yea, I said poop.
A technique to gain an insight into someone, especially if they curse, is to observe them ranting and raving. They’re revert to their basic self.
Mmmm ….
Well, I didn’t stop reading Selco’s columns just because he described others as “A**holes.” Didn’t even get mad.
I did point out that resorting to profanity is an unfortunately low-grade form of communication. Sort of like the person who drops the “F” bomb in almost every sentence….as a verb, noun, adverb or adjective….sometimes all of them in the same sentence. 😉
This bad habit doesn’t make the content of his posts either right or wrong. It simply degrades the quality, and communicative effectiveness of his prose. I’ll keep on reading with an open mind.
I read the comments first. Girded my loins and read the article. And I’m still waiting on the cuss words. When I was a young lad, supervisors, during training, used swear words to add atmosphere, raise the intensity, get you excited to make it a bit more life like, realistic. When I was being considered for a promotion into a supervisory position, my then future boss stated he didn’t think I swore enough. (Oh, side note, this was while working as a State employee.) I agree swearing is lazy; I can’t articulate my thought process, so I’ll just swear at them! But I kinda get the impression that should SHTF, civility will not be practiced much. So while I would prefer that Special High Intensity Training by Selco or anyone else NOT include swearing at me, there’s not much else left to raise the intensity level up, other than, I dunno, incoming live fire maybe?
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
All the responses about bad words. I almost never use them because I find them useless, or worse. I remember a time when someone tried to intimidate me with a foul mouth, I said “I don’t need to listen to a dirty mouth!” and simply walked away. Dumbfounded, he STFU with an open mouth.
Getting out of your comfort zone is far more than just words. I found that a hammock slung between two trees on a steep hillside is a surprisingly comfortable way to sleep, when one is homeless. I used to limit my budget to $1.00 / day food, though I think inflation has made that impossible today. What preparations do you have for cooking any food you might get? How do you fool your stomach into thinking it’s full when you’ve had nothing to eat (a big glass of water helps)? Can you hide your camp so that people walking even 10 feet away don’t see it? That may be necessary to keep from having to fight and maybe die. I’ve done all these and more, yet I consider myself woefully unprepared. Can I do them again? Mentally, I’m prepared to try.
Right now I’m visiting a semi-arid land, with saguaro cacti all around, yet I’m surprised at the amount of vegetation all around. Off the road, it’s rare to see more than 20 yards in any direction. Yet as I walk around, I find myself considering what might be useful should the SHTF when there’s no electricity or water. Forget physical comfort, that won’t be there. At the very least, I may have to walk 12 miles up a mountain side to get water. Am I in good enough physical shape to do that?
And so much of the discussion is about dirty words?
Look at society today where you have safe spaces at universities and rooms where people can go and reflect on their feelings. It seems that people today are offended by almost anything. When I started doing construction years ago, the first thing my supervisor told me is that if I didn’t have thick skin, I might as well go home before I even started. We all talked smack to each other all day every day in the form of humor. Problems arose when people quit talking smack about someone to their face, that basically meant that people really didn’t like working with a person. It wasn’t because they had thin skin but because their work ethic was severely lacking and they soon quit. We all worked hard and gave crap to each other when working our butts off. The person that preferred to sit in the truck all day and not work with us made themselves an outcast. It wasn’t long before the boss would send them home.
Ps. Meant to conclude with the following last time but for some reason(s) posting to OrganicPrepper is difficult on my android phone, in addition to the constant advertisements popping up and displacing where you were.
While I agree with Richard from above: “And so much of the discussion is about dirty words?” here goes nada,
And where did Europeans and people of the world learn to curse?
From occupying U.S. troops.
Although countries have colorful phrases like “polishing” your car, a gamut of words, from “O.k., Joe” to four-letter words are picked-up from us exporting our culture overseas.
The thing is to be selective using them. “F**king S**t!!” is easier to express than “Oh darn, an A36-S4 I-beam x7.7# dropped on my left foot steel-toe boot, thereby crushing three of five median metatarsals and all phalanges requiring an expedient visit to the nearest emergency room.”.
Just remember the higher you are in the food-chain the less cussing you’ll hear publicly (in private the same people will curse like “coal-miners”, a term used by a maid who quit working for a well-known wealthy family due their language at the breakfast table).
From what I heard when approaching someone with real street power, you dress in your best attire, wait inside a, say, social-club, until you are called, sit respectfully and state why you are there clearly, then that person will respond in a low quiet voice “Mr. X., we will see what can be done.”. You thank them and leave.
The next day or so, like an elephant’s foot hitting the ground, it’s done. At no time is there any cursing.
Cursing in the military is usually used by a low-life sadistic prick trying to boost whatever self-esteem they may still have, or someone trying to get your room-temperature I.Q. attention span so they can teach you a skill that someday will save your life. The rest … frustrated shorthand.
J.I.C.
The term “coal miners” is not a slight.
The coal miners, mostly Polish-American, I met as a kid were friendly hard working good decent family orientated people. Due to their Culture and grounded religious beliefs they endured hardships I believe most people today would not make it through. I think of them as America’s Forgotten Slaves.
(For a glimpse into what Coal Miners in general went through see “The Ludlow Massacre”).
Good article. I look at people who say they are preppers, but who don’t do any physical labor at all as people who are not going to make it. I’m 54 years old. I’ve cut down/cut up a tree, moved the wood 150 feet by wheel barrow, and split the wood using a maul, wedges and a sledge hammer (no power tools). It almost killed me, but I know I can do it if I really must! I started lifting weights after that, too, and am stronger with better endurance now.
I agree. If you cannot abide a few *sterisks, what are y*u g*ing t* d* when s*me*ne wh* kn*ws that y*u have prepped threatens y*u and says “Give me your food, mother f**ker!”
I live in a 100 by 80 shop. Think auto repair.. No heat except wood I cut. No water until a few days ago. No hot water. I bathe out of a pan with a rag. No oven.. Its currently 48 indoors. When its 30 below outside things are gonna get interesting.
Already learning cooking on a barrel stove, and insulating from the cold. Already snowing here..
I don’t mind it at all..most people would.
selc i agree words are just words actions are actions i love your words have a nice day
One of the best articles so far – ‘Words’ will mean nothing when you have NOTHING. I approach SHTF as if it will mean I have nothing – I KNOW I will not be comfortable, I KNOW it will be a Survival situation & I KNOW my stores will not last me forever. I KNOW I will have to have a way to ‘generate’ future food & needs. I KNOW this because of blogs Daisy’s and others. ‘Words’ will be the last think on you mind in a SHTF scenario & if words are a concern to you now, when you are trying to prepare – You have a long way to go to ensure your own and your families survival. Good luck with that.
I have a blog and I do not use those words either for the sake of creating good reader rapport. But it is not what I am after if I found it on someone’s blog and so I stuck to the whole article and the blog for what it is all worth reading. I do not know that there are people like Mr. Anderson.
Good article.
To many people are prepping for the wrong reason: comfort.
It is great if you can be comfortable come SHTF, but it is not likely. At least not what you consider comfort today. Comfort after SHTF, might be having a fire or something to eat or being relatively safe for the moment.
the New Normal, after SHTF, will be a whole lot different from “normal” today. So expect that and prepare for that. You can’t take today’s version of “normal” with you into SHTF.
To begin the decent earlier rather than later strikes me as the preferred path at this point.
Embarking as soon as possible, perhaps yesterday, on the road to the ultimate austerity makes all the sense in the world to me.
Descending from the 100th floor one step at a time sounds like a safer route than jumping off the roof to get to the ground floor.
But ultimately, finite Earth cannot support any more infinite industrial and human population growth. Worse, I fear, Earth cannot support the existing bulk of human biomass and our toxic byproducts. It appears to me that following the completion of remodel job that is underway in the lines of commerce, most of us will be toast regardless of any preparations to the contrary. “Say goodnight, Gracie.”
Good insight.
Unfortunately, those in the “Green New Deal” camp think there is a techno-fix just around the corner! And we can all go about our happy car driving, from farm to 1200 miles fork, out of season produce, or cheap ground beef, our i-what ever for slave wages from over seas, for absolutely no sacrifice from our current lifestyle!
That is right boys and girls! We get everything we want, and at no cost or sacrifice to our 1st world problems lifestyle.
It is all free!
In “London Under Attack” by R. Clarke
“Survival will not be home and family, nor neighbors, lovers, colleagues and friends. Survival is not health, hope, or happiness. Survival will be fear, exhaustion, disease, pain and long, lonely misery.”
…..and a whole bunch of curse words !