Not giving a damn really helps sometimes!

[Wildthang]

You know when I joined this forum, I was reading every survival blog and forum I could find, reading the news everyday, fretting about the total disfuctional governement, and worrying about the entire world and all of the violence in other countrys. I was basically making myself paranoid and sometimes all I thought about was prepping and getting ready for the world to collapse.
So I have finally reached a point where I have realized that the media, and all of the doomsday preachers were making my life a heap of worring and paranoia. So, I finally decided to quit watching the news, and to seperate myself from negativity. I finally realized that I am prepered as well as need be, and have as good a chance as most of surviving anything that comes along.
Now when I go out into nature, I am not practicing survival, I am just being part of it all and enjoying the peace and solitude it brings me. I rarely ever think about social collapse and all of the what if's that go with it.
I am glad to be a prepper and to have an attitude that I will be ready if the time ever comes, but I'll be damned if I am going to let it consume my mind any farther than that!
Life is too short to do nothing but worry about things you can't control! Sometimes I think the survival prepper attitude is almost an obsession with some people and it controls their lives to the point of being rediculous, and I was getting to that point myself.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being prepared, but one must realize that there is much more to life than constantly thinking about where the next bag of rice, and box of ammo is going to be added to the cache!
I have finally used the prepping to get me to the point of knowing I am prepared, and letting that take the paranoia and worrying away instead of letting it get out of control.
I think seperating myself form the news and media has let me gain a more healthy insight to life in general.
The news sucks and all of you should try seperating yourselves form it for a month, you will not beleive how much better you will feel! I am also avoiding negative people as much as possible as well.
If you think about it, the world is becoming a very negative place, with a heck of a lot of negative people, and it just drags you down!

[crashdive123]

Nice post WT.

[Sarge47]

[Rick]

I couldn't agree more. Very nice post. It's all about maintaining a balance in your life.

[Ken]

Good post! I was feeling the same way until I stopped at the deli yesterday and discovered that they had run out of Boar's Head Hard Salami. Dammit, I just know it's a liberal conspiracy and that Bloomberg's probably behind it.

Then I got to thinking about what would happen to the supply of Boar's Head Hard Salami if SHTF. So, I just wrote a letter to Boar's Head requesting that they produce canned hard salami. I can't possibly survive without that stuff.

[hunter63]

Right on, ...kinda got to that place my self here a while back.....till I realized that no matter what you do....you can't worry about it ALL the time, unless you want stress do the damage for you.

Great post.....Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.....but don't worry about it too much...you can't get out alive, anyway.

[Seniorman]

As the great Alfred E. Newman always said, "What, me worry?"

S.M.

[1stimestar]

Good job. Part of "prepping" must include having peace of mind.

[Wildthang]

When I start to feel stressed, I just think of the Wildthang poem!

Excerpt from The Peace of Wild Things (Wendell Berry)

I come into the peace of wild things,
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief,
I come into the presence of still water,
and I feel above me the dayblind stars,
waiting with their light,
for a time, I rest in the grace of the world,
and am free.

[Mossman]

Thanks for posting this. It seems that every time I turn on the news it only takes me 10 seconds to find a reason to be stressed out.

[welderguy]

Good post WT

[BENESSE]

Amen, brother WT! Couldn't have said it better myself.
One can easily slip into obsessive/compulsive habits of prepping to survive while neglecting to live each and every day.

[Wingman]

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

[SLVRBK]

It's funny that you brought this up. The other day a buddy of mine who has a kajillion rounds of ammo and every type of gun that was ever manufactured asked me how much ammo I kept in my safe for the end of the world. I was like, "I don't know, maybe a thousand of this, 500 of that, two thousand of another" and he was astonished. Essentially, I have the basics to cover my a$$ long enough to prepare for the next "solution". I'm damn sure not living in an underground bunker and I'm damn sure not going keep myself up at night worrying about it. I need my beauty sleep, ya dig?

[Sourdough]

Others just have different obsessive/compulsive habits.............Like making more money, getting "AHEAD", better job, newest cell-phone thingie, looking good, having $XXX,XXX,XXX,XXX.00 in their 401K, IRA, pension plan. Everyone wants to feel safe and secure.

One can easily slip into obsessive/compulsive habits of prepping to survive while neglecting to live each and every day.

[Wildthang]

Others just have different obsessive/compulsive habits.............Like making more money, getting "AHEAD", better job, newest cell-phone thingie, looking good, having $XXX,XXX,XXX,XXX.00 in their 401K, IRA, pension plan. Everyone wants to feel safe and secure.

Well to me obsessing over my livelyhood is mandatory to a point, but obsessing over something that might happen is not worth it. There are so many variables in SHTF scenarios that it boggles the mind, and nothing you can do will stop it, so why worry?

[BENESSE]

Others just have different obsessive/compulsive habits.............Like making more money, getting "AHEAD", better job, newest cell-phone thingie, looking good, having $XXX,XXX,XXX,XXX.00 in their 401K, IRA, pension plan. Everyone wants to feel safe and secure.

Yeah, money buys you security as well. You didn't use leaves for currency to purchases your stores, you used MONEY. If you didn't have any, I'd like to know how far you would have gotten on bartering your skills for that new firearm, or the boatload of ammo or the many packs you've got.

Another example:
My sister is going through a prohibitively expensive cancer treatment and she doesn't have health insurance. It's all out of pocket--mine and Mr. B's. If we hadn't work hard, sacrificed and saved all those years, she'd be SOL, and probably dead by now. We're not buying the latest gadgets, BOL, BOV, fancy vacations and the latest in firearms. We're buying her a chance at staying alive. Isn't that what it's all about ultimately?

[hunter63]

I don't figure there is a right ore wrong as long as it Your thing....be it what ever.....go for it.
The only time I will question other motives is when I am asked to support some one else's, behavior....If ya get my drift.

So, what ever make you happy....and doesn't infringe on my happiness or well being.......Enjoy.

[Rick]

Others just have different obsessive/compulsive habits.

Maybe, but not me. If I obsessed over it I'd be afraid to lose it so I wouldn't invest in anything weapons and ammo included. Believe it or not "safe and secure" is very high on the list of things you must have to be healthy and sane. Being obsessed is not. You cannot have a high level of self esteem or frienships or a moral outlook until your baser requirements, including safe and secure are fulfilled.

Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs:

450px-Maslow's_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg.png

[crashdive123]

Sourdough does make a valid point. Each of us has to set our own priorities. Short term security for him might be 12 cords of seasoned firewood and enough French Vanilla creamer to make it through the winter.

We are all different, with different life's experiences and view points. While our goals may be similar - the way in which we achieve them are incredibly diverse.