I’m quite exhausted (and agitated) listening to financial analysts give their perspective on how to prepare for the coming collapse.  Their grandiose suggestions of buying land, real-estate, and gold are out of reach for the majority of Americans.  The 2008 collapse wrecked a large majority of Americans; bleeding their retirement and investments dry.  Even further, those that made it through 2008 are faced with price inflation in all realms of life – college education, basic commodities and other services.  What is left is the 1%, a small middle class, and the ever increasing working poor.  

I’ve come across many in the preparedness community who cannot make ends meet, let alone prepare hard assets for a coming calamity.  They battle through the psychological hurdle of whether to prepare at all.  Perhaps this sums it up best:

“It’s lonely in the land of being aware, to be surrounded by so many that cannot hear the bell that tolls for us.”

And it’s even lonelier for those that ARE aware, and have given up hope in preparing as they have no monetary means to.

What do you say to the poor man prepper?  And more importantly, why you should also say it to….yourself.

There is NO immediate gratification to the poor man prepper – There is no savings account that can be invested directly into a purchase; purchases that would give them the satisfaction that they are one step further towards preparedness.  Preparedness for them is strictly by the sweat of their brow and innovation of the mind.

And for you all who are currently reading this post…those of you who are fortunate enough to have some money on the side to purchase preparedness supplies…you are preparing for what the poor man preppers are currently  living through.  At some point in the future, YOU will not be able to get instant gratification through making purchases…

You will end up in a situation where survival is by the sweat on your brow and innovation of the mind.

What you tell the poor man prepper, and what you will end up telling yourself has no sugar coating.  You may not even initially view it as an answer at all.  It’s core is rooted in psychology, deep within the root of who we are as a person.

– The answer starts with self reflection…

Ask yourself these simple questions:

• Think of a difficult time in your life. Did you take it in stride?  Did you find yourself constantly fighting against the grain?  Did you even fight, or did you let the grief wash all over you?
• Think of a situation that called for immediate action on your behalf.  Where would you put yourself?  FIGHT, FLIGHT, or FREEZE.
• Do you find yourself in situations where stress prohibits you from thinking clearly?

If you find yourself easily succumbing to grief,  depression and stress; or fleeing/freezing in situations that demand action, you need to start doing some self-reflection.  Only after you recognize who you really are – the true self inside yourself, will you ever be able to strengthen your WILL which will persist through the hard times.  As the saying goes, “once you have a will, you have a way.”  There are plenty of strong willed people who have started with nothing, and moved mountains.  It IS (or maybe was) the American Dream.

And so while there are multiple websites that will individually teach you cheap ways to innovate survival tools and tricks, it all means nothing without first strengthening yourself as the individual.  Once you do that, everything else merely falls into place.