My quest to become more prepared has opened my eyes to many different scenarios or events that could be potential threats to myself and my family.  The problem though, is that the more I talk about being prepared the less prepared I actually feel.  It is easy to be overwhelmed when you start thinking about things like nuclear fallout, EMPs, economic collapse, and civil war.

While I believe the most important thing gained through prepping is a preparedness mindset that can be applied to any situation, we need to be careful not to over think it.  My recent reflection has me thinking about which preps are truly important and what I should be focusing on.  I decided to write this post to share what I came up with.

Having Realistic Priorities

Out of all the problems in the world, we need to focus on the ones most likely to face us.  I know this might seem like common sense, but I encourage you to take a minute and see if you are really doing this.

Is a biblical scale flood that some prep for as likely to destroy your house as a common house fire? The obvious answer is no, but I can bet not everyone reading this has their important documents protected by a fire-proof safe or has fire extinguishers in the recommended locations in their house.

Is planet x smashing into earth as likely as someone smashing into your front door?  No you say?  Do you have the proper lighting, landscaping, and security system to discourage someone from targeting your home?  For many this answer is no, including me at the moment.  Read my article How to Prevent Burglary to learn the easiest ways to protect your home.

Is a complete economic collapse as likely as you losing your job?  Probably not, but I’m starting to wonder.  Financial prepping is an aspect that I have recently started focusing on and I have to admit that losing my job is something I’m not prepared for right now.  I recently came across another new prepper blog, schemabyte.com, that dives into the financial aspect of prepping.  You might want to give it a look.

The above questions are just a few of the things that I have been asking myself lately.  Each and every person has a unique situation and challenges that they face.  I encourage you to start asking yourself some of these questions to make sure you are putting your prepping time to its best use.

I also want to make it clear that I am not saying that it is foolish to prepare for things like economic collapse,  an EMP, or nuclear attack.  I believe that many of these threats are very real in today’s world.  I was just using the examples above to illustrate my point that we should all be sure we have our most important preps taken care of before worrying about those things.

Practicing with Your Preps

Practice should be a priority for every prepper.  Do you feel you have acquired the knowledge and gear to be prepared for a particular situation?  Now it’s time to practice.  Before you go on preparing for the next thing, take some time to make sure you are comfortable actually using those preps if you need to.

For example, if you own a gun for home defense, is it somewhere you can reach it quickly during a break-in?  Are you confident you are accurate enough to hit a moving target when you are dazed and half asleep in the middle of the night?

For each scenario, imagine what it might be like to actually go through it.  Making a plan ahead of time will allow you to react instantly instead of having to think about it.  And of course, practice regularly with any gear that you plan to rely on.

Rule #32: Enjoy The Little Things

With all this self-reflection and thoughts about doom and gloom, things might get a bit depressing.  To borrow a rule from the movie Zombieland, you have to enjoy the little things like “A box full of hollow points and Lord willin’ a GD Twinkie“.