Peace of Preparedness Negates the Power of Panic

An Ounce of Prevention

Generally, I find people would like to maintain peace of mind and avoid panic-inducing situations. I strive for the "peace of preparedness," the calm possession of a plan and the means to execute it.

We've all seen the power of panic, the lines to get fuel when there's a shortage, the bare bread & water shelves before a storm and today's shortage of toilet paper and hand sanitizer due to the "Deadly Corona Virus."

The Peace of Preparedness negates the power of panic. Coronavirus is yet one more panic inducing story fodder source the news uses to scare the population.

Peace of Preparedness can be attained in proper planning

You'd think that after all the years of the news anchors screaming about natural and manmade disasters we'd learn to avoid these knee jerk reactions. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The saying goes and it's something we should take to heart.

I'm a Survivor

I survived Y2K, so I KNOW a solid crisis when I see one (read line with sarcastic tone). This Corona Virus has the people in the same mood as I remember back then. I was 14 when the news grabbed a hold of the Y2K fiasco.

For those that don't remember, in order to save data, the code written for "year representation" in computer systems was only represented by 2 digits instead of four. So, when referring to 1998, it only got the "98" part of the date. Because of this oversite, when 1/1/2000 hit, food production systems were going down, data centers were about to fry, and missile silos were going to launch nukes spontaneously.

There was some serious Doom and Gloom flowing out of the television for MONTHS... I remember seeing empty shelves where bottled water was supposed to be, bread was cleared out too, and canned goods were getting dumped into shopping carts left and right. Panic levels were high while IT engineers worked against the clock to come up with a solution.

The nerdy boys pulled through; everything was fixed by the time the ball dropped on January first, 2000. The public sighed collectively in relief and the big blue/green ball kept spinning on. There was a Blockbuster in Tucson Arizona that charged a few customers 99 years’ worth of late fees, but other than that, no catastrophes occurred.

Then, the public started getting angry about how the news had them all hyped up, buying generators, food storage, guns and ammo in preparation for the computer-aided apocalypse. One man, Norman Feller pictured below, actually stocked a bunker full of supplies and LITTERALLY went "underground" to avoid the Y2K crisis. He came out nearly 14 years later feeling REALLY good about his decisions.

Peace of Preparedness: Norman Feller interviewed after spending 14 years in bunker avoiding Y2K crisis

Norman Feller, Y2K survivor

Propper Preparedness

I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda jealous of Ol' Norman there. I'd LOVE to have a bunker capable of housing me and my needed supplies to endure 14 years alone. That sounds AMAZING! That being said, maintaining my status as a (semi) functional member of society has its allures as well. I'd say my survivalist goals are not quite full-blown bunker prepper, but definitely higher than waiting in line for water rations.

in the Hare-O-Ponics: Parctical Backyard Livestock Integration

A while back, I wrote this article called the 3 Pillars of Independence. I would LOVE to claim that I am completely independent of outside sources of food, fuel, and medicine, but I am not. My peace of preparedness goal is centered around becoming more self-sufficient in these areas, though. You don't HAVE to buy everything right now, going broke in the process. in fact, id like to admonish you to take it slow.

You need a plan not a bunch of products. instead of spending 300 bucks on water, buy a 100 dollar water filter and a hand pump. Instead of a 1600 dollar generator, look at what electric appliances you can do without, and what alternative means you can use to accomplish the same tasks such as Solar Cooking. And of course, instead of buying 3 grande worth of canned foods you don't usually use in your diet, maybe inverse in some back yard quail for eggs, and meat rabbits for food and trade. You can find the equipment to raise them here.