We all have different reasons for logging online.
Some of us are looking for relief from “the real world” (or the reality they want us to see that’s constantly being broadcasted).
Some are looking for knowledge, connections, or to see if everyone else has lost their minds like our “leaders” have. A handful are just looking to stir up trouble, but we’ve gotten pretty good at shutting them out of our corners of the internet.
We’ve built our little pockets of safe zones, places we can speak freely without fear of backlash, attacks, or arrests. Still, the state of affairs creeps in, and we’ve no choice but to face what’s happening outside our homes.
What Comes Next
It’s difficult to just ignore what leaders across the world are doing. While it may be true that we have no control, we can’t deny that their choices have an impact on our daily lives.
Often I’m told to “stop paying attention”, as if by not looking will all make it go away.
“I don’t want to talk about it”. That’s fair, because so much of our news is meant to be a distraction from other, bigger threats we often don’t think about. Some issues are hiding in our own backyard, yet we never give them any consideration.
Although even if you are sticking to your guns, not paying attention, and not caring about what’s happening, there’s no denying your world will change drastically in the coming months.
Like it or not, we need to plan.
Planning
It’s important that we plan for multiple scenarios. This doesn’t mean you go full on doomsday prepper by building bomb shelters or buying up 20 years worth of bottled water.
No, these “survival” ideas were always temporary fixes, and by no means meant to be how you lived out the rest of your days.
We need to think beyond what’s available now, and how we will pull together as a community to offer what’s necessary for survival. Mainly the top three necessities of life; food, water, shelter.
Now let me repeat this important part; You’ll need to plan with a community.
To start, you’ll need to figure out what you can offer.
Where’s Your Skills?
We all have hidden talents.
Unfortunately we’ve all spent so much time in an artificial world being told a “skill” is something that allows you to successfully make (or save) money. “Hobbies” are something we do for fun, or so we’re told.
The great part about a world starting from scratch is that all those “hobbies” all the sudden become necessary skills. Some of the big ones include gardening, cooking, and writing.
Homesteaders have known for years, treating their garden and home as a self-sufficient entity, designed for reliance should our creature comforts disappear. They are often scoffed at, and told “You can’t survive alone”.
While this statement is true, in the absence of conveniences such as big box stores and purchasable groceries, it’s up to us to provide these needs. We should thank them for providing the blueprints, not telling them it’s not possible. The alternative is no one eats, has clean water, or reliable heat sources.
Find your skill, what you can offer, and focus on bringing that talent into the new society.
You Aren’t Alone
It’s always seemed silly to me that so many people are discouraging of those trying to be more self-sustainable. Of course you need others to survive! No one has ever suggested that you wouldn’t. We can’t all know how to source water, grow vegetables, bake bread, sew clothes, build shelters, chop wood, or make a fire.
This is where a community comes into play.
Talk with neighbors, sure, but more specifically local business owners. Walk into any individually owned shop and you’ll instantly see the vibe. Chat with them. Learn about their individual skills. Know what they offer, and what you can offer them. Business owners (or at least successful ones) have spent a lot of time understanding the concept of offering value to a community. If they are a good owners that works closely with employees, they’ve also spent a lot of time talking to others in the community.
If you have been paying attention to the news, you’ll see that community action starts at local businesses. Many have opened their doors to support activists, protestors, and organizers. They are benefitting, but they are also helping by offering their space and donating profits. We see first hand how the individual working with the community will always succeed over the greed machine.
Get Started
If you have no idea what you might be offering to the next generation of humans, now is a good time to start.
Some education may not seem as if it will translate to an unknown landscape, yet it will if we look beyond the current applications.
Finance majors, for example, can always use their math skills to calculate food rations, or help someone handy with a hammer measure how much space is needed for storage or living.
Are you trained in tech? We’ll probably need you most of all, especially with a lack of government and/or corporations. Get with a welder, who may not have a clue about ports and wires, but has a different set of skills that might just meet your needs.
If these seem like lame comparisons, know that it’s because these are not my skills. I bake, I grow, and I dabble in various arts. I have made the realization that I can’t know or be everything, and have chosen to focus on my own strengths and knowledge, while learning what I can.
As mentioned above, don’t forget about those things they call “hobbies”! Those are true, old world skills that will most definitely be needed. Now is the time to learn about topics you always wanted to, but haven’t because you didn’t think it was a good use of time.
Chase your interests; you never know what will be of use in our near future.
Bloom on an apple tree in April. The seasons march on with Nature’s agenda despite our man-made human issues. Life continues in the wild, no matter what. We need to grow along with it, or perish in the artificial world.