Survive or Suffer? What Will You Do During TEOTWAWKI?

I came across an article asking, in a nutshell, how do you choose to suffer? What pain do you choose to endure? When reading, I found myself thinking about the pain that would occur in a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation. Most disaster events cause hunger, thirst, cold, injury and, worst of all, death for a lot of people. They undoubtedly bring a lot of pain and suffering to a lot of people.

However, I believe that preppers mitigate this pain and suffering in so many ways, just by preparing. We spread our pain out over the time before these events occur so that our suffering is lessened a great deal when the SHTF.

We suffer now by saving our money and spending it on things we might need in the future. Rather than going out to eat, watching a movie or taking a vacation, we spend our money preparing.

We suffer now by learning and practicing skills that are crucial during a survival situation. We learn how to build tools. We learn how to grow food. We learn how to live without running water and electricity. We learn how to deal with our own waste without a flushing toilet and garbage pick up.

We store food and water to avoid hunger and thirst. This comes with pain and frustration and time spent learning what to do and what not to do. We have to be diligent and patient to build up our reserves. We spend a lot of time figuring out what we need to have on hand and what we will do with the food and water when faced with a disaster situation.

We store fuel sources for cooking and heating. We have to plan where to get them, how to buy them, where to keep them and how we can renew their sources. We have to practice using them to live and be comfortable.

We do our best to supplement our homes with necessary items to keep them functioning and safe. We buy guns and learn how to shoot them. We spend money on tools and gear that we must have on hand for long term survival situations.

We spend a lot of time learning what we could face during a disaster situation so we can prepare for them. We read news and stay alert to events that could lead to disaster situations. We plan out beforehand how to respond to a variety of disaster scenarios.

We spend more time learning skills to help us face uncertainties during disaster situations. We learn CPR. We learn first aid, and buy the things we must have if we get hurt or sick and can’t get to a doctor or hospital.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy prepping and don’t consider it a pain in the ass. But, I think we can all agree, we do face some suffering while we do it. As I’ve outlined above, we suffer with not spending money on things we might enjoy – a new TV, date nights, vacations, etc. We suffer by spending our free time researching, planning and learning instead of watching TV or playing video games. Trading mild suffering now so I don’t have to really suffer TEOTWAWKI is one I will take every time.