Why Should I Get Prepared? Now…Today? (before SHTF)

By "Just In Case" Jack | Updated: 10/25/2023

preppingToday I want to ask you one very important question…

WHY?

Because without a clear answer to THIS question,

What happens with times get tough?

  • Will you give up?
  • Give in?
  • Or compromise on your morals?

Without a clear reasons to WHY, things get fuzzy when your hungry, thirsty, and scared…

So let’s talk a bit more about WHY we prepare.

Topics In This Article…    ↓(click to jump)
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Living In THE Modern Dream…

Let me guess – you were born in a first word country.

  • Maybe went to public school, and got a decent education.
  • Maybe you went to college, or maybe you didn’t.

But at this point in your mid-life, you’re likely to be responsible for others.

Perhaps you have a family to look after.

Someone who relies on YOU to provide.

  • Now, up until this point, life hasn’t always been easy.
  • You’ve had your fair share of road bumps along the way.
  • But you’ve strived to live up to your potential…
  • Always working hard, taking calculated risks, striving to get ahead.

Never really considering the fact that the modern society in which we live in is a fragile proposition at best.

We’re living in the modern age and technology and progress will win out, right?

  • You probably have liberty
  • freedom of speech.
  •  justice for all
  • clean water
  • sanitary sewers

Perhaps you have access to quality healthcare, air-conditioning, unlimited electric power, and natural gas.

Sure, on average, you have a few days worth of food in the house.

And you’ve never worried about keeping more than that, right?

Food Stockpile Statistic

October 26, 2012, Adelphi University CHI Poll: Emergency Preparedness

Why? Because American grocery stores are always full.

In your limited experience – this is the natural order of things.

Now, suddenly, after a couple of decades of working, earning, voting, and observing, you’re starting to worry.

Maybe it’s the trillion-dollar debt everyone said was unsustainable when you were a kid is now over $30 trillion (and counting)!


national debt

Some people still say that it’s unsustainable but it’s just getting worse FASTER now.

But what worries you most is the people in power do not use those words anymore.

  • They either believe it’s sustainable – which worries you…
  • Or they know it’s NOT – which frightens you

You have started asking yourself questions like:

You suddenly realize you have a family that looks to you for protection.

For shelter, food, water, heat, and clothing – and you realize,

I have no idea how to provide any of these things when SHTF!

You decide it’s time to investigate and learn some survival skills.

While there is still time and electrical power to run the Internet.

The first thing one must ask oneself is simple:

  • Under what conditions do I want to be prepared to survive.
  • And under what conditions do I not?

It seems like a silly question, doesn’t it?

Of course, I want to survive…really?

So if you survived the exchange of thermonuclear weapons – our cities, our infrastructure, our society is completely destroyed and poisoned with radioactive fallout.

Do you want your family to survive and thrive amongst the rubble?

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Gas Mask Radio Active Fallout

Is It REALLY Worth It?

I don’t want to discourage anyone from wanting to live.

But considering all possibilities is a good exercise nonetheless.

This brings us to the second group of questions:

  • What are you willing to do to survive?
  • To ensure the survival of your family?
  • Your children?
  • Anything you say…really?

When your children are starving, sick on polluted water sources, and desperately in need of nutrition:

  • Are you willing to cheat?
  • Are you prepared to steal?
  • or perhaps kill someone else?
  • Taking what they have to keep your family alive?

No, of course not, you say! I have morals!

You want to be a kinder, gentler, more civilized prepared survivalist.

This is very noble of you.

But keep in mind starving people are NOT civilized.

I’m not saying one has to break laws and moral codes to survive.

But if that is where you draw the line, it’s best to realize that right now.

Some will break the laws and moral codes to get what they need and will try to take what YOU have.

  • Will you defend yourself and your family to the death?
  • How exactly do you plan to be prepared to survive?

Which Hostile Environment?

The nature of the hostility is what differentiates a survival scenario.

Maybe the hostility is rooted in climate?

  • Extreme Heat
  • Extreme Cold
  • Extreme Dry
  • Extreme Wet

The common factor here is the word extreme.

Which may not be as extreme as you think…

In many parts of the country, we transit through deadly conditions daily – for brief moments.

  • The walk from the house to the driveway in sub-zero, Minnesota cold.
  • The walk from the Caesar’s Palace back to your hotel in 100 degrees F heat.
  • We transit these areas and think nothing of them.
  • We encounter hostile environments daily.

But have the luxury of “going inside and getting a cold glass of water or a hot cup of coffee.”

What if that transit is not so brief?

Broken Down Truck In Desert

What about the three hundred-mile drive across Nevada on Highway 50 – the Loneliest Road in America?

Hostility could manifest itself in wildlife, venomous snakes, wolves, sharks, lions, tigers, and bears.

If we are alone in a survival situation, we have many factors to consider and overcome.

However, what if the scenario is not just you or your family?

What if everyone is trying to survive?

Now you must compete with others to survive.

You must navigate confrontation with their most dangerous game:

Your Fellow Man.

All animals in nature have a survivalist instinct.

They know how to acquire food, water, and shelter.

They survive bitter cold, sweltering heat, blizzards, and thunderstorms.

Unfortunately, the survival instinct is no longer a human instinct.

The will to survive may be an instinct, but we are not.

Whereas the deer, bear, and rabbit are born hard-wired to survive in the wild.

For Preppers…Survival Skills Must Be Learned.

Real survival is less about skill sets than it is about decision-making.

It’s Time To Start Preparing Now…

Water acquisition, fire starting, and building shelters are basic.

Skills are important, but decision-making determines how you employ those skills – or don’t employ them.

Each survival situation is unique, fluid, and dynamic.

More people have died making poor decisions than those who lacked a certain skill.

Getting your mind right about survival is the first step to making good decisions.

And a little advance planning doesn’t hurt, either.

  • So you want to be prepared to survive…Good.
  • You’ve got your mind right…Good.
  • You’ve set your limits, moral or otherwise…Good.

Now how are you going to acquire the necessary skills?

  • How are you going to learn good decision-making?
  • How are you going to Prepare?
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