The Top 8 Deadly Myths
Hi! I’m Sheila.
For the last several years, our family, my husband Dan, our son Jesse and I, have been living what some may call the “survivalist” lifestyle. Actually, we live the off-grid (so far off the grid that there is no land line and no cell phone service available), self-sufficient life. We’re not here to get away from the world for a few days while chaos happens and calms down. We don’t think that’s what will happen, anyway. We’re here because we have chosen to separate ourselves from the rat race, the system, and not be swept away in the tide of what we see as society running amok. This is not a temporary lifestyle to us. It’s a wonderfully peaceful, sometimes difficult and always rewarding life. Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen, “out there”, this is how we choose to live.
We were basically city folk all our lives, but over the past 20-plus years, we formulated, clarified and then realized our vision to make the transformation to our current lifestyle. We understand the fear and panic many are now feeling in contemplating making a lifestyle change within a short time because they are observing events around them that require such a drastic move.
Once we moved to our current location in New Mexico, we chose to lease parts of our land to form a small community of like-minded, people (I would rather call it, “like-spirited”) to help each other make it through what we believe is coming down the pike soon. In that search for the right people (who we eventually did find) we met many types of self-proclaimed, “survivalists,” most of whom were in reality, “survival tourists.” Our son coined this phrase to describe those who only wanted to investigate survivalism just deeply enough to find reasons they couldn’t/shouldn’t do it. (“Phew, I almost had to wash my dishes by hand!”).
We met people who spent lots of money on land, a shelter and storage foods, only to forget to prepare the most important thing, their minds! It’s going to take so much more than a gross of toilet paper to save your rear. You’re going to have to put on your, “big girl pants,” and deal with things like going out in the cold to get firewood, learning to make pancakes using only flour you’ve ground, an egg and water, and wearing the same clothes for years without falling apart, neither the clothes nor you!
The things you might think are important now will seem silly once you’re more concerned with chores that simply keep you alive through a cold winter. We met people who didn’t think they could live without their 62” plasma screen TV. We’ve been watching the same 1200 piece library of DVDs on our laptop for our evening’s entertainment for several years. We know the scripts backwards and forwards, but it takes our minds off the day’s work when we need it.
Before we were able to have our well drilled, we were depending on a local water delivery service, 2500 gallons at a time, not a 5 gallon visit from the “Culligan Man”, who one day decided that he didn’t want to make the rough trip to our ranch any longer. We had to make our last 500 gallons last throughout a brutally cold winter, washing dishes with 2 gallons a day, washing our hair about once very 2 weeks. But you discover that you make it through.
Myths about survivalism
If you’re considering living the survivalist lifestyle, you should know the truth about these myths?
1. It’s just like camping.
It’s nothing like camping. When you go camping, if you can’t take a shower for a couple of days. No problem, you’ll take one when you get home. This will be your home, and you’ll have to figure out how to keep your body (and clothing) clean all year long, in the cold, snow or wind.
On a camping trip, you can live without anything for a couple of days, even weeks, and you can always jump back in the car and go to the nearest grocery store to pick up what you need. What if there were no grocery store available? How will you feel when your daily habits are interrupted, not just for a few days trip, but for the foreseeable future?
2. You can buy enough food and supplies for forever.
No, someday what you have will run out. You’ll have to learn to grow and/or gather new food supplies and to learn to use what you have, even if that means pancakes without baking powder. Someday you will have to wipe your butt with a washable rag instead of disposable toilet paper. Someday there could be no gas to get to the store and the store won’t have anything on the shelves anyway.
3. Your neighbors will gather around and help each other.
Think about your neighbors who haven’t got a clue, or can’t bear the thought, of their comfy suburban lives changing when the reality of where society is going hits them, “upside the head”. What if your neighbors can’t get their daily supply of cigarettes, beer, Prozac, soda pop, etc., etc., etc.? Are they going to be the kind of people you can depend on? For how long?
4. If I buy enough gadgets (mini washing machine, generator, solar tracker) I’ll be OK.
If you truly believe that society is in for a big shake up, you’ll realize that this is not a time to spend money unnecessarily, but to put every penny you can into what is practical. Gadgets are going to break down and then you will have to learn to live without them anyway. Why not learn now?
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