I wrote a recent post about preparedness as a hobby. In the comments section of that post “Spook45” made a great point about how preparedness may be a hobby for some, but that it’s a lifestyle for others. Each person has his/her own level of interest and/or commitment to preparedness. Some people are more comfortable with preparedness as a sideshow, so to speak, a “hobby” that interests them and they see a need to pursue, if only on a limited scale. For others it’s more involved, and has a bigger impact on who they are, what they do, what they pursue. It’s this latter group, the “survival lifestyle” folks that I’m discussing today, specifically – what does it mean to live a prepper lifestyle?
Living a prepper lifestyle, to me, means you are living a life that would change far less than others’ lives if a large-scale catastrophe ever struck. You’ve adopted a daily life that resembles the lifestyle most people led a few generations ago. Following are attributes I believe constitute a prepper lifestyle.
- You are debt free or you are on an aggressive schedule to become debt free. Nothing screams freedom like being debt free and, in particular, owning a house and land free and clear. Years ago people saved a lot of money before buying a home so they could put 20% down (or more) at purchase. Years ago people didn’t need 2 cars per family so car loans were not as common. Years ago the idea of “just charge it” was incomprehensible. If you are a prepper that has taken your debt head on, you recognize the value in securing your assets so they cannot be taken from you should you lose a job, become disabled, etc. You are living the prepper lifestyle.
- You are heavily self-reliant. Living the prepper lifestyle means you are a Jack (or Jane) of all trades. You were either raised to take care of things yourself, or you seek out various skills that make you well rounded and less reliant on the help of others. If something goes wrong, you want to know how to take care of it yourself. You don’t want to pay someone else to fix your car or make home modifications (see attribute #1). You may even be self-employed, or at least derive a percent of your household income from your own business endeavors.
- You live in a rural area. There is a stereo-type amongst the survivor/prepper crowd that in order to be serious about it, you don’t live in a high population area. While I am sure many city dwellers take preparedness very seriously, perhaps more seriously than some in rural areas by the very nature of where they live, it’s difficult to argue that you live the prepper lifestyle if you live in an urban area. An urban area equates to total havoc when/if the SHTF. Preppers living in cities make plans to “bug out” should times get tough, but when you’re living the prepper lifestyle, with a few exceptions, home is your refuge when times get tough.
- You have low household energy demands. When you live the prepper lifestyle you live close to your place of work (which may be your own house), which means lower vehicle fuel demands than others. You probably heat with wood or at least have the capacity to. Ideally it’s wood you gather from your own property. When winter comes, you set the thermostat low, dress warm and shut off any unused areas of the house. You may embrace off-grid living.
- You take gardening very seriously. There are people that garden for fun and people that garden for food. The lines blur between those two, but the closer you come to gardening for food, the more likely you are to live the prepper lifestyle. That’s not to say gardening for food isn’t also fun, but you see gardening as a means to an end, and the end is food – first and foremost. The fun is secondary. You grow enough to store for the fall and winter. You can goods, have a cold storage room and maybe a root cellar. You probably save seeds. If the SHTF, you’re garden and seeds are already ready.
- You hunt and fish. In some ways, you embrace the stereo-typical redneck lifestyle. You can skin a buck and run a trot line. When deer, elk or bear season comes, you plan on the large game becoming part of your food supply. Rather than hunt for trophies, you hunt for meat – there’s a difference.
Do you agree? Are there prepper lifestyle characteristics that I missed?
Based on my own description of the prepping as a hobby versus prepping as a lifestyle, I fall more in the “hobby” category, albeit a serious hobby.
11 comments
Animal husbandry maybe? Some of the more hardcore survivalists that I’ve encountered raise their own protein instead of relying on hunting and fishing.
Going strictly by your list, I’m disqualified too although I consider myself living the lifestyle. The main that gets me is energy consumption, we use a ton. But then again probably 60%+ of that is heating and cooling. We have propane backup, but our house is primarily heated by electricity. Redoing the house for propane or wood would prove too costly, and the house really isn’t designed for it. We’re currently living in a temporary location that is paid for to save money. We’re still designing our live-there-till-we-die survival retreat, I guess once we move in I’ll be considered living the lifestyle.
Another one is the jack of all trades. I know how to do a lot of stuff, but with my schedule it’s just easier to pay someone to do it for me sometimes.
I take my garden very seriously, but mother nature gives me a smack down just about every year. I just have to refine my techniques and keep pushing forward.
Animal husbandry, yes. I’m in the same boat re: jack of all trades while hiring some things out. I’m okay with the idea of being a hardcore prepping hobbyist.
I dont think people have a choice in prepping. By that, I mean that once a person sees and perceives a threat to thier freedom, life, property family or anything else in thier lives that they hold dear, by thier very nature they begin to prep simply by human nature. Many times, it is a long process. For me, I was already half way there due to the country lifestyle. On many occasions I have had this kind of conversation with SF guys and LRPS guys and by the end of the conversation they are usually asking me “where I recieved my training” as if I were one of them. I assure you, I am NOT. The truth is that many of the things that those guys are taught to use to survive under situational constraints(SERE), are things that as a child, we learned form life by being in the coiuntry and living on the farm. Fishing and Hunting are everyday norms, growing a big garden was needed because we were poor and had large familys. Living in the woods, we dig gensing(for money) yellow root(aka yellow percoon, the main ingrediant in golden seal) we use wild mint and water crest for food and medicine. I say that(as I did before) it is a life style and I think it so as a matter of human reaction to threat. This is why we see such a diverse set of ideas and reactions to the things that are transpiring in our country and the world. Anyway, interesting to see what other folks think.
to what limit is the prepper lifestyle? Up untill a few years ago i didn’t know what a prepper was. althought i own two farms out right, raise my own food, hunt, fish, heat with wood, garden about 2 acres and live in BFE by most peoples standards.. For me that was always my life and lifestyle even when things got so bad on the farm I had to move to town i still kept paying the taxes on My places. things are different now because I prepared more for those ups and downs.
You said it all when talking about how much would your life change if TSHTF other than using more ammo sorting out those looking for a hand out I would say not much. Other than the trips to town would be less but I’m all for that anyway…….
I dont think there are any limits. I think there are levels of awareness and that is what will deterine how far and to what extent someone prepares. IF you live in an earthquake prone area, you may take strategic actions that I would not. The other idea that a lot of people use as sort of a guage is WROL(without rule of law) for what they do and when they do it. This has been one my redfalgs since before the term was coined. The point here is that as long as you have your rights and you have a legal recoarse as an end to a mens, then your preps should be for crime/protection and for natural disasters. When, as an end to a means, the govt goes so far around the bend that you no longer are entitled to your day in court(observance of legal rights as prescribed by the Constitution of the United States) then it is time to GO. I say, at this point in time, we are WROL. There have been specific challenges to unconstitutional laws/acts against the American people nad the courts did thier job and struck down the actions/legislation and our current administraion end runs the courts decision and goes on with the illegal activity. Err, go, we are WROL at the Federal level and it is just a mter of time before it trickles down(or is forced down) to the local level in which case it will directly effect you and me as citizens. This is where things start to get a lil crazy and could precipitate BAD REACTIONS from the populace. From an academic prospective, it will be very interesting to see as it unfolds.
One of the attributes I feel was overlooked was health and well being. I know a few posts back shtfblog delved into the physical fitness aspect but I also feel that keeping yourself and your family physically fit and healthy are a high priority. Remember Tom Hanks in Castaway? The sore tooth that he never got around to getting examined turned into a real problem once he was marooned.
How many of us have nagging health problems that can be treated that we just put on the back burner because we don’t have the time or inclination to get it fixed. In a TEOTWAWKI situation good luck finding a chiropractor for an adjustment, a dentist to fix your tooth, or a pharmacist to fill your blood pressure meds.
Being physically fit and healthy should be something a prepper should incorporate into their lifestyle. What good is a years worth of bullets, beans, and bacon if you keel over dead from a heart attack?
Excellent point CJ. I did that post as a wake up call to those who might not be in such good shape because when TSHTF how are you going to get yourself out of trouble if you can’t run, climb, swim, fight, or whatever you need to do?
Also, I had elective knee surgery awhile ago to take care of a torn meniscus. Now is the time while those services are still available.
This was an excellent post Ranger Man. The part about getting out of debt hit particularly close to home. I spent five years digging out from under credit card debt and these days if I can’t buy it with cash I don’t buy it.
It is very often overlooked. I am in pretty good shape, but not the kind of shape I would LIKE to be in. I think most folks assume that preppers are generally in pretty good shape, however U tUbe blows that thought out of the water. I agree, truth is if you cant hump a pack and a weapon, your not gonna get far. The movie”Defiance” comes to mind. The Jewish people as a whole have some wonderful attributes, but combat arts was not one of them until the early 60’s. They were at a terrible disadvantage at the onset of WW II because most of them in general were craftsman or clerical types of folks who were woefully unprepared for the onslought they encountered. Looking at history, they seemed to be wrought with the”normalcy bias” that grips much of the U.S. right now. No matter what you show people and no matter evidence you present, they have a reaction of “Oh no; That could never happen here! This is the greatest country in the world!” Well, thats what they said too, and millions of them DIED because of it.
I agree. How I picture a “prepper lifestyle” involves enough daily labor that your daily chores becomes exercise in itself. Maintaining physical condition through conventional exercise is more important for people with more sedentary jobs. The “prepper lifestyle” would also likely incorporate better, homegrown foods, foods that are less processed. I guess I see health and wellness as coming by default in a “prepper lifestyle.” My grandparents and their grandparents didn’t need to go to the gym. They had enough other things to do that kept them physically active.
Using myself as an example, the “prepper lifestyle” was NORMAL life for me since I was a child. I think this comes from my grandparents having large families and living through “the great depression” and passing on what they learned to my folks and subsequently to me, spending summers with family who all lived (at the time) in very rural areas, growing up hunting and fishing every chance possible, raised into a military family, and I could go on and on. However I have a little brother who was raised the same as me, and has had almost the same experiences through his life, but he doesn’t embrace the prepper mentality the way my father and I do. I will agree that some folks are lucky enough to be raised into a prep lifestyle, but it also takes the mindset to continue and implement what you have learned. If you don’t have the mindset, then everything you might know from your lifestyle won’t do you a whole lot of good… Just my opinion!
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