By Brian Meyer
It’s easy to prepare supplies, weapons, and training for impending disaster, but these will only get you so far. While doing more than just storing food in your basement is a great start, if you lack the traits that are inherent for some, and learned by most, all that prepping can be for nothing.
While nobody wants to try and define what a prepper is specifically, there are some basics that make up someone that is truly prepared, as part of preparing for anything is getting your mental faculties in order to deal with whatever the world can throw at you, and that’s easily the hardest part. So what can you do to better practice the traits of a successful prepper? Start with the five listed below and go from there. Even if you’re lacking in supplies, these traits can mean more to you than gold.
Know When to Lead, and When to Listen
There is a dichotomy that comes up when you talk about following and leading. A person who is truly in charge of his or her own survival must possess the ability to step up and lead when things get tough, but he or she must also know when it’s time to take a step back and listen to what others have to say.
Listen to what others around you have to say and respect their opinions/views. It’s often easier to step up and lead than it is to truly listen to what someone else has to say, especially when you’re in a position of power.
Be Able to Budget
At the core of prepping is the idea of literally preparing for the future. What many people don’t realize is that while stockpiling weapons and learning new methods for storing food can be challenging and fun, knowing how to budget is one of the most important forms of prepping you can practice.
There’s more to budgeting than money, even though it is important. A survivor must know how to budget time as well as food, water, and overall supplies. You can build your budgeting skills by making a plan for everything from your monetary budget to your food and water budgets, which most people call diets.
Appreciates a Challenge
Becoming a prepper is the first step in admitting you like a challenge, the rest is just following suit with this idea. Remember that as a prepper you’re getting ready to recover yourself as well as your part of the world from a TEOTWAWKI event. If that’s not a challenge I don’t know what is.
Enjoys Gardening
Many people find gardening relaxing and very rewarding. It’s a hobby that can pay off now in not only free fruits and vegetables, but the skill of gardening, learned now, can save your life when the SHTF.
Why rely on someone else to get your food for you when you can do it yourself? This is the idea that’s at the core of a true prepper: self reliance.
Be Able to Confidently Take Risks
Taking risks is inherent in the core of every prepper. We try to limit the number of risks taken by preparing food, water, and supplies so that only necessary risks are taken, but as a prepper you need to welcome these types of risks.
That means instead of being crippled by fear when danger arises, you instead must learn to be excited by this and allow yourself to act accordingly. Welcome risk and be confident when taking them. As long as you’ve prepared as much as you can, any remaining risk should be achievable.