Doomsday Procrastinator - Chapter 3

Posted by Justen Collins on March 15, 2013

“Beware the Ides of March!”

There are not many better dates to continue a series on preparing for the uncertainties of the

future than March 15th. History gives a classic example of a lack of preparedness – even in the face of warning – in the life of Julius Caesar. Even though a soothsayer had warned him that harm would come upon him no later than March 15th, Caesar disregarded and mocked him. Somewhere around twenty-three stab wounds later, I am guessing that Caesar probably wished he had heeded his warning and maybe beefed up his personal security details.

The good news for us is that our Brutus and Cassius are still sharpening their knives in the wings, and we have time to come up with our defense strategy. For those struggling to keep up with my strained Roman analogies at this point, let me recap slightly. Consider last week’s edition of the Doomsday Procrastinator to be your personal soothsayer on the roadside of life forewarning you that tough times lie ahead. If you did not catch last week’s piece, click HERE and go check it out.

You have heard the warning now. Will you ignore and even poke fun at it like Caesar did? Or will you play it safe and do what you can to prevent harm from coming on you and your loved ones? Once the everyday comforts and staples of society vanish in the wake of a natural disaster or manmade calamity, it will not take long before some of the unprepared individuals in your community start behaving more like the knife-wielding members of the Roman senate. To keep from suffering the same fate as Caesar, you need to start making your plans and building local alliances that will seem paranoid to some now, but can prove crucial in the future.

Based on the emails that I receive each week, the readers of this series seem to fall into two distinct camps. There are those that are already actively prepping and looking to gain new insights and – more often than not – sharing their superior wisdom and experience with me and others. The second camp is a group that finds this whole concept a little far-fetched. I get a lot of people asking me if I am writing this as a parody or spoof of some sort or if I really believe it. There is no doubt that it is easy to get lulled into a sense of comfort in the stability of society, but I truly believe that is a false sense. We need to look no further back than one generation to see how quickly American life can essentially unravel. There are still those living today that can recall life during the Great Depression, and I am certain that they would not be among those mocking the practice of prepping.

If the thought of trying to build an alliance of family, friends, and neighbors with complementary skill sets that could help sustain each other in the event of a collapse of society seems too paranoid to you (even though I would personally disagree), allow me to suggest a lifestyle prepping activity that everyone can agree is sensible and achievable. If our power grids go down or our fuel supplies dry up, our lives immediately become more manual and labor-intensive in an instant. If you are like me, your body has become pretty conditioned to years of sedentary work and fully air-conditioned living. Your health and physical abilities are the cornerstones of your survival in the future – no matter whether you see that future as headed toward doomsday or paved with sunshine and rainbows. We can all agree that time invested in improving your health and physical condition is a worthwhile pursuit.

I will not turn this into a fitness blog because there are endless routes you can choose to travel and many of them are inexpensive, effective, and quality programs. Whether you are hitting a local gym, using a DVD program at home, or just using manual work on your home and property, you can easily increase your cardiovascular and muscle endurance. If you don’t think doomsday is coming in your lifetime, you still get the benefit of feeling better and looking better in a swimsuit. For those of us that think we could need the conditioning to survive and thrive in the future, the effort and energy expended in exercises now will reap loads of benefits in the future.

#DoomsDelay Tip of the Week
Having a reliable heat source is likely second only to having a safe water supply when it comes to prepping essentials. Without a way to heat your shelter through the cold weather months – and many of your stored foods that require heat or boiling water to prepare – you will not last very long. If your house (or doomsday bunker/compound) has a wood-burning fireplace, you are lucky – assuming you are familiar with an ax and have access to firewood. If you don’t have a wood-burning fireplace, finding and obtaining a wood-burning cast iron stove might be your best option. In the short-term, having kerosene or propane heaters and fuel on hand would be wise. For far greater detail and insight, check out “Home Heating – The Greatest Challenge for Most Survival Preppers” by SuburbanPrep over on theSurvival5x5.com site.