What If You're Prepared — 
But Nothing Happens?

Guest Post By Lee Crain

Should I have done this? Should I have spent thousands of dollars on self-reliance, preparedness, on food, equipment, fuel, water, and more to ensure the safety of my family in the event that something breaks the wheels of civilization?

After having spent thousands of dollars, and investing months of work in preparing our home and our lives for whatever, I have asked myself that question more than once.

And I always end up in the same place: Yes.

Here's why:

Barring a nuclear war, a tsunami in the Rocky Mountains, the eruption of Yellowstone National Park, or an asteroid impact, we're ready for any "normal" calamity that might isolate us, that would turn off the technological spigots of civilization that spew the things we need to survive: food, fuel, water, warmth, electricity, sanitation services, and more.

We're as ready as rational people can get, for a "normal" calamity.

Knowing this has given me a peace of mind that I've not had before, when I knew that we should do this, when (instead) I listened to every excuse for not doing it. And that little voice inside me kept saying, "You need to prepare."

I started the process of getting "seriously" prepared only a few months ago, and I clearly remember what it was like to not have the things I knew we would need.

Sometimes, I'd awake in the middle of the night and think about:

All these thoughts overwhelmed me!

What Motivated Me

Finally, I read something that propelled me from thinking — into action. I read about the "Internet of Things", how easy it might be for terrorists to attack and take down the U.S. power grid for an extended period of time, and how that disaster would immediately precipitate all other disasters. The impending reality of that event, the likelihood of it, that's what moved me to prepare.

How to Reach Our Goal

So, lacking infinite financial resources, we began to plan. Our goal was to acquire whatever we needed to survive, independently, for one year:

• we created lists,
• we created plans,
• we calculated water consumption, food consumption, fuel consumption, and,
• we identified what we really need that is electrically powered.

The more plans we made, the more questions arose, the more lists were created. We researched online for the items we thought we would need. We compared quality, prices, "need" vs "want", and we began to acquire things.

Glad We Have a Basement

We had to have a place to store and organize everything, so our first task was to organize our unfinished basement that had been collecting "stuff" and been neglected for seven years. That was a HUGE project. We cleaned out, threw away, then put up shelves to hold everything from food storage to garden tools to boxes of old (but necessary) records. Then, we began to acquire and store our supplies.

Now, when I walk down into the basement and turn on our home's emergency, off-grid power supply, I'm reminded of how ready we are. The evidence of our planning and preparedness is everywhere. And I feel safer than I've felt in my entire life.

And I think we have a plan that will allow us to survive the eruption of Yellowstone. It won't be easy but I think it can be done.

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