Being a Prepper and Using Our Brains

I used to be on a few Facebook groups for preppers… I'm not a prepper per se but I wanted to see if there were any good ideas for canning, storing food, emergency preparedness, etc. I love to garden and can my produce and it's nice to get other people's thoughts and ideas about it. Some are way out there, some are a little closer, and some are really informative.

I don't like the idea of not knowing where my food came from or what it has been genetically altered with or fed or how it was treated before coming to my plate. I am not a vegetarian, but my farm animals are treated very well and live happy lives.

We lived off-grid for 3 years and loved it. It was like camping 24/7. It had a steep learning curve, and it was hard. We had a 2-year-old when we started and by the end, we had 2 more children, so that added to the hard factor, but we loved it.

Sometimes while I skimmed through Facebook posts, I would see a question that I would be curious if someone had a question. One that changed my view and ultimately made me leave all the groups was a woman having a health issue it was not a biggie, but it made me really see things in a different light. She asked and some of the answers were good ones, or just out there, mean, redundant, or just plain stupid. There were smart answers like going to a doctor, suggestions, products to try, and one ridiculous one that said she had HIV.

We are all at different levels of understanding in whatever we are doing whether it's Dungeons and Dragons, video games, or prepping. And we have different reasons for doing it. Where I live most prep for hurricanes or weather-related things, or like my church advises us to have 3 months to a year's worth of food storage. Whatever you decide to do is your choice. How far you go is also up to you, and I have no place in your planning and execution of those plans. What you do is your way and what I do is mine, but we can learn and help each other in our chosen paths.

I worked in a health food store at one point, and we could not give advice or advise a person on what they had wrong or what to do about it. We had books we and the customer could turn to and learn from. We then could show them the selection of products they had chosen to try. This Facebook group had a lot of mean comments, stupid comments, and sprinkled throughout some helpful ones.

The person that asked the question might have been wanting attention as well as the people making the silly comments. In the end, I felt that I wasn't getting the information I was wanting and decided that go back to what I had been doing. Research and using my brain are much better solutions.

When you step up to do whatever it is you’re doing and you have a plan in mind and the mindset that you can do this, you’ll figure it out and do it. If you have a handicap mindset that relies on everyone else before you try, you’ll fail every time. You might need someone’s help along the way and that’s okay but sitting waiting for someone to come along and pick you up without you trying to take at least one step, that’s defeat.

Asking advice is a great way to learn but giving lame answers to a question that could be a great learning experience is ignorance. Keep things simple and it will all fall into place, teach things simple and it will benefit many, live things simple and when things get hard it will all be a piece of cake.