I cannot stress enough how important mental preparedness in a survival situation. Losing your cool during the stress of a disaster is the first step towards failure. Below are a few tips on how you can hone your mental preparations to help you adapt to just about any survival situation.
-Turn off all electronic devices for 24 hours at a time. This includes cell phones, TV’s air conditioners, etc. Use this as both a preparation for when you do not have power and a conservation technique for if you choose to run a generator so that you can see how to survive on only the essentials.
-Become accustomed to receiving and retaining information from print sources such as books. The internet will not be available in a disaster.
-Spend some nights using only candles and or battery operated lights to illuminate the darkness.
-Begin storing rainwater and spend a few days using only stored water. Be sure to use “grey water” to water your plants or use in your toilet as well.
-Try cooking some of your meals using a solar oven, barbecue, fire pit or any primitive or improvised cooking method
-If you have damaged clothing, practice trying to repair it instead of just throwing it away.
-Take household items and write down creative ways you can use them. My rule is if an object doesn’t have at least 3 uses I will not carry it with me.
-Take a short walk and collect anything (non-hazardous,) you find on the ground and ask yourself, what can I use this for?
-If you plan to shelter in place, become intimately familiar with every street, landmark, trees, houses, etc. within 2 miles of your home, walk the area often.
-See what it is like to have only enough water and food to sustain you. Try to survive a couple of days on bare minimum supplies.
-Start a “rat’s nest” by saving up every spare part; screw, spring, nails, etc. Then use those parts to fix something only using what you have stored.
-If you plan on “getting out of dodge”:Drive or walk all your “escape routes” beforehand under varying conditions and calculate times to reach each place.
The truly “ready” survivalist will constantly train themselves to be prepared to adapt and adjust to anything that the world has to throw at them and not rely solely on their gear.
The final step requires actual training, whether it is done on your own or through a survival class.
Any gear that you have will break over time or can be taken from you, but skills that you have learned can never be taken away and can only be passed on to others.
Having the right skill set is much more valuable than having the sharpest knife, more bullets than everyone else, or the lion’s share of food storage.