FRONT ROYAL, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) – The best time to prepare is years ago. The second best time is right now.
At least that is what I tried to relate to fellow LifeSiteNews colleagues Jim Hale and Walter Willits while spending several days with them on my backwoods homestead.
When I first met Jim, I hinted about the need to take preparedness-type endeavors seriously. He quickly outed me as a “prepper,” the modern slang term for those once simply referred to as “survivalists.” Jim has since taken to introducing me to my local colleagues as follows: “This is Nick. He’s a prepper!”
Joking aside, the threats we face to our way of life are numerous and real. Everything from the re-ordering of the financial system and control of the populace via the “Great Reset,” to attacks on government institutions, churches, and pro-lifers. We see these every day at LifeSiteNews, an environment in which the idea of prepping is not rebuked, but welcomed.
Prepping is typically a lonely path. Just as with the many repeated warnings LifeSite provided to readers about the perils of the abortion-tainted COVID-19 injections, counsels by preppers to non-preppers regarding looming societal dangers are typically ignored, met with disbelief, or outright rejected.
So it was in the days of Noah.
Building a community of like-minded individuals is perhaps one of the greatest challenges to preparing and one of the most important. No matter how many times we may be spurned, it is important to continue reaching out, sharing what we know, and praying for others. “Lone wolves” will not make it alone for long in a collapse scenario. As history has shown time and again, the survival of the one will depend to a great degree on the strength and skill of the pack.
With that being said, my experience is that preparedness begins at the individual level with one’s own particular plans to self-rescue. Preparedness is not about panic-hoarding, but about creating an increased awareness and tiered-resiliency within one’s lifestyle.
If you are fresh to prepping and just getting started, below is a quick list of areas to consider as you begin. If you are starting from scratch, in terms of material goods, focus on getting two weeks’ worth of food and other necessities and then work to one month to give yourself a better buffer in a crisis.
- Water: How do you acquire your water? Does that method depend on electricity? What means do you have to filter and store water? How much do you have stored right now?
- Food: How much do you have in your pantry? Do you have methods of producing food at your home—such as with gardening or raising livestock? Can you recognize food in the wild? Do you know how to prepare and store food for the long term?
- Shelter: Where will you dwell if suddenly there are riots in the population centers? Does that location need repairs? How long is that location tenable? Can you accommodate others?
- Protection/Medical: How will you protect yourself when the police and other emergency services are down? Do you have training in self-defense and medical response? Do others around you? Do you have first aid and trauma kits along with any extra necessary personal medications?
- Resources/Skills: Tools, clothes, building materials, car parts, q-tips, etc. Where are the gaps in things you would not wish to do without if suddenly you could not readily acquire them at the store? What skills do you possess in working with your hands? How would you do things if the power was out?
- Community: Who do you know right now that is undertaking the preparedness lifestyle? Will you be able to care for friends and family? Will they allow you to care for them? Do you have friends in the country, people with whom you could join and rely in a crisis?
Part of preparing is also about learning from others. Here are some online preparedness resources that I have found valuable:
- Viking Preparedness (YouTube)
- Bear Independent (YouTube)
- peakprospertity.com
- theorganicprepper.com
- survivalblog.com
We realize that this topic is a bit of a new one here at LifeSiteNews, but we felt it timely to discuss. If preparedness-related items and stories are something you wish to hear more about at LifeSiteNews, please let us know in the comments.
