Have you ever rolled a small snowball through a couple inches of wet snow and marveled at how quickly it builds up? Every time you roll the snowball over, it gets bigger. It’s the best way to make a snowman.
Snow isn’t the only thing that builds up surprisingly fast. Bad news is building momentum right now, getting bigger with every headline. Here are some keywords and headlines on the Drudge Report late Friday night:
- Democracy on Brink
- Wall St. Worst Week Since Pandemic
- Peanut Butter in Short Supply
- Staff Shortages Threaten to Ruin Summer
- The Malaise of Joe
- Yellowstone floods
- Another Wave of COVID
- The Deteriorating Nuclear Order
It’s not just Drudge. Here are front-page headlines from mainstream media:
- America is Heading for a Cliff – New York Times
- With Scant Options in Ukraine, U.S. and Allies Prepare for Long War – Washington Post
- Deutsche Bank Now Expects “Earlier and Somewhat More Severe Recession” – Yahoo! Finance
Sound bad, doesn’t it? Everywhere you look, its stock market problems, high gas prices, crashing cryptocurrency, high food prices, bad weather, threatened food shortages, economic problems, war, threats of more war, crime, killers, gun control, medical supply shortages, supply chain problems, the list goes on. We’re being threatened with an autumn that includes $10 gasoline and $15 chicken meat, $40 steak, and pharmacies without common prescription medications.
Instead of building a snowman, this snowball of bad news is being used to tear down the country. I suspect it is all part of the planned Great Reset. They have to tear us down and rip us apart before they can rebuild in the image they want. Don’t let them undermine you; don’t let them win.
Things you can Change
Regardless of where you are on your prepper journey, I would suggest you spend less time worrying about things you cannot change–such as the stock market, the weather, or what Russia or China will do–and concentrate on the things you can change. You can change your behavior, your attitude, your level of training, and your level of preparedness.
My advice is to not to let the news distract you or get you down. Concentrate on keeping your family safe, housed, clothed, shod, and fed. Much of that comes down to being prepared and to increasing your preps as that list of negative headlines grows longer.
There are many ways to prepare, many ideas about what the future might hold, and everyone has different skills, abilities, experience, and budgets. If disaster strikes, the best prepared among us might still be killed while the least might survive by luck. All we can hope to do by prepping is to tilt the odds in our favor.
For me, that means living in a house heated with wood and having plenty of firewood on hand. It means having off-grid water. It means raising eggs, bees, having a garden, and being able to hunt, fish and trap. For us, it means having a full prepper pantry, a long-term storage food program, and shelves of gear in our store room. It means being able to treat most minor wounds and injuries ourselves, being able to defend ourselves if pressed, and having friend and neighbors we can depend on.
Any Plan is Better than None
Preparing may mean something different to you, and that’s OK. If you are young, it might be the ability to move back in with your parents if the economy collapses. If you are a little older, maybe it means having a van or RV you can live in. Maybe it means being a member of a prepper group and having a bugout location where you will be welcomed. For some, it could mean having a skill like nursing where you can always find work.
If you are well off, it could mean having an underground bomb shelter you can retreat into and shut out the world for months or years. Maybe it means getting on a fully provisioned sail boat and heading out to sea. For some, it could mean moving outside of the United States and living in Portugal, Costa Rico or Thailand, or bugging out to New Zealand like a Silicon Valley member of the elite.
The important thing is to have a plan and the right attitude. Perseverance, faith, and the ability to adapt will serve you well in any situation. The world is changing. Threats are evolving. Wars we never thought we would see again are back. Diseases we never imagined are here. You need to be ready for the unexpected.
Resiliency, flexibility, and the ability to quickly face the new reality could be as important as a deep larder and a well-stocked retreat. Of course, having both would be preferred!
