Are we soft?

[BraggSurvivor]

Have we have become weak both physically and mentally in North America as a result of easy living?

My question: if so, how do we "toughen up" quickly so we can handle what maybe coming our way?

Are we made tough through our experiences?

[Sourdough]

I am 62 and get up at 3:AM and work on the farm, or hike 12 to 14 hours a day. Have No T.V.....Haul water from creek 1/4 mile, Log and split firewood. Frankly I am as tough as I want to be. Now, I have to get tough and go kill two of my best friends.

[RobertRogers]

Hopeak is right: to get tough you have to move. Go for walks, cut firewood etc. Outdoor chores are a great workout.

[sh4d0wm4573ri7]

I like my luxeries to a point, yet Is not a problem for me to grab my pack and head into the bush for up to a month or more, have been doing it off and on since age 12. While Iam now 47 I still do it and I don't consider myself old, yet I do believe I could always be in better shape.

[Sourdough]

I think a interesting related subject is how many people have never worked. By worked I don't mean thinking hard. I mean 10 or 12 or even 16 hours a day of hard manual labor. Breaking rocks, shoveling coal, digging post holes, logging, packing meat. I am talking you burn 6,000 to 7,500 calories a day, maybe more, day after day, after day. Not just a hard weekend clearing brush at the summer cabin. I think there a shocking amount of humans who have no concept of hard manual labor.

[DOGMAN]

I am probably the softest I've ever been in my life.

[BraggSurvivor]

Yep me too JM, my wife pokes me in the belly and I do the Pillsbury Doughboy giggle. :D

[nell67]

Bragg,when I read the title of this thread,I went to your profile pic,and ummm,well,I'm sorry man,really,really sorry.:p

[BraggSurvivor]

I am completely ripped under all that baby fat Nell. :D

[Rick]

Me, too. My abs were ripped when I tried to lift a box last year. My back was ripped when I carried that carton three years ago. My pants ripped when I developed dunlop disease and I ripped one when I bent over to pick up my pants. Yep! I'm ripped underneath all the blubber.

[crashdive123]

Yep ...... I have the shape of a body builder......I just camouflage it well......besides - round is a shape isn't it?

[crashdive123]

Just checked the pic Nell was talking about. So sorry that somebody so young needs Viagra....my condolences.

[wareagle69]

i ask myself this all the time and i say it all the time we have become spoiled when i was younger i was hard core when ftx was over i would stay in the feild while others would go back to the barracks and hit the town then two weeks later they would be back in the feild whining and i was comfy, i eat my bowl of well deserved ice cream every night i have two apprentices do all the heavy work cuz they gotta pay their dues the same way i did, i have all my creatute comforts and spend more timeon this site than i care to admit should be doing something more useful than telling bragg hes an idiot, but and i have said this before if i lose it all tommorrow i would only miss the mrs other than that it would probably be a releif to back to a simpler way of life

[BraggSurvivor]

That's the antidote, that's there is Anti-Viagra Crash. My wife gave it to me after our fourth child. :D

[BraggSurvivor]

i ask myself this all the time and i say it all the time we have become spoiled when i was younger i was hard core when ftx was over i would stay in the feild while others would go back to the barracks and hit the town then two weeks later they would be back in the feild whining and i was comfy, i eat my bowl of well deserved ice cream every night i have two apprentices do all the heavy work cuz they gotta pay their dues the same way i did, i have all my creatute comforts and spend more timeon this site than i care to admit should be doing something more useful than telling bragg hes an idiot, but and i have said this before if i lose it all tommorrow i would only miss the mrs other than that it would probably be a releif to back to a simpler way of life

Go practice cooking a pork chop, plumber boy.

I'm not taking the bait.

[wareagle69]

bait what bait youre the master baiter what i'd do ?

[wareagle69]

oh by the way the roast tasted excellent to day ifn i say so meself good thing someone taught me how to do that

[BraggSurvivor]

bait what bait youre the master baiter what i'd do ?

Well, that is true. My opoligies. ;)

[wareagle69]

did you take your little blu pills today cuz your brain seems a little soft?

[BraggSurvivor]

"You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

"Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more".

[wareagle69]

truth you can't handle the truth

[ledzeppie]

wow bragg way to quote The Matrix! LOL

[RaymondPeter]

Have we have become weak both physically and mentally in North America as a result of easy living?

My question: if so, how do we "toughen up" quickly so we can handle what maybe coming our way?

Are we made tough through our experiences?

I think that much of the world not just North America has become "soft." How do we "toughen up" as you put it? Well that depends on your personal situation. I think that like you ask, that we are made tough through our experiences. Although just because you grew up on "easy street" doesn't mean that you can't toughen up just because you didn't have a rough time as a child.

As I've gotten older I've had it easier and easier in life. Even when the times were hard, I can now look back and see that they weren't THAT bad. I have recently tried to change my ways, I walk to work nearly every day, I try to learn something new (usually survival/woodcraft/homestead related) daily, and have just started a new exercise program to get back in shape.

I might not be as tough as some, but it doesn't mean I can't try...

[Ole WV Coot]

I'm not soft, just smarter. Don't do stupid things but stay active and I did do what I considered hard work. Ain't nothin' like climbing a hill carrying a 28' fiberglass ladder and 80 lbs of tools, work all day and haul it back or hang on a pole for hrs. after breaking ice to get the gaffs in the wood. The Doc says it ain't my age, just the mileage. 40 some yrs ago I could go for days until my clothes rotted off. Now I try to use what I've learned over the years to make things easier. I try and use my brain now and it keeps me happy. Don't drink, smoke or chew in the last 15yrs. Only been in one scrape when a young guy in a carry out told me to "Get outa the way OLD MAN", I did give him the choice of the door or big window, he couldn't decide so I picked the window. Other than that I like to be underestimated and I do what I can but age sure slows the reflexes down. Some habits like sizing people up and staying aware of possible threats to my hide I still do automatically. I like hard work, rests my poor brain and I sleep better.