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Facing the fact that we are coming to the end of our fossil fuel energy binge and the Earth is retaliating against centuries of abuse in the form of climate change, it is safe to say that the end is near.
Being prepared for the cataclysmic, economic, and political events that are bound to happen in the near future is your best chance for survival.
You and your family should be able to support yourselves without the help of others. During the SHTF, the only ones that you can trust for your survival will be yourselves.
Evaluate Skill Sets
Take a closer look at the people that you live with or plan on teaming up within the face of a major event. What skills do those people possess that will contribute to the survival of your group?
Everyone has a natural talent, but consider if that talent is useful or could be adapted to better serve the group. There are many different roles that need to be filled to keep a healthy community of people functioning and operational.
For example, at least one person will have to continue to somehow generate income. Encourage the entrepreneur within your group to begin conceptualizing their own business to become self-employed.
Being self-employed enables your family to be less dependent on others and showcases leadership skills to others.
In the event that your community becomes self-governing, those leadership skills you’d place on your resume may serve you well when establishing yourself in a higher role in the chain of command.
Develop New Skills
If there is someone in particular who doesn’t have any strengths that stand out, assign them the task of learning a new skill to fill a gap that your group may have.
There are essential roles that need to be filled. For example, ensuring that you have someone who knows how to skin and cook a rabbit may not be a priority to you and your family right now, but it may be in the near future.
Take advantage of the ability to access free tutorial videos on YouTube or free online classes at Coursera to learn new skills like sewing, shelter building or animal tracking.
If there is only one person that could be considered an expert hunter or trapper, designate another within your group to be an apprentice so that if that person perishes or leaves the group, that skill set doesn’t leave with them.
You never know when having a skill may make you more valuable in a group situation. Knowledge of the following topics could add value to your group:
- Hunting and gathering
- Animal dressing
- Gardening
- Sanitation
- Medicinal plant knowledge
- Primitive communication techniques
- Mechanics
- Welding
Run Drills
It is not only important to learn new skills but to also put them into practice. Anyone can claim that they know how to build a snare out of found materials in a natural environment; it is another matter to be able to do it on the spot.
Find ways to integrate training into your day-to-day routines to make sure that you are ready for whatever might come your way.
This is to not only test your group’s abilities but also test your cache, such as your watertight containers, making sure that your propane bottles are full and not leaking, or that your water filters are properly working.
From beekeeping to buttermaking, there is so much to learn to enable you and your family to live in comfort after SHTF.
Work on incorporating a new trade or skill into your monthly schedule to positively contribute to your family and bail-out group.
