Holistic is a way of saying that everything is connected in one way or another. Because they are connected, the whole thing is greater than the separate, interconnected parts that make it complete. And it’s looking at the way various aspects are connected that helps us to understand what is meant by a holistic approach to prepping.
To flesh out what we mean by that, let’s look at the way the four main pillars of successful prepping all fit together – with one depending on the other to achieve the best possible prepping outcome.
In this scheme of things, we’ll also see that it’s not just a question of parts interconnecting to make the whole but the essential building blocks put together in the right order.
In our case in point:
- planning will come before skills training
- skills training will come before fitness, and
- fitness will come before buying the gear you will need for your prepping journey.
Planning
Planning is critical in practically any walk of life – and when prepping can make the literal difference between life and death, a prepper’s planning is naturally a priority.
Prepping is all about preparing for the unexpected. Prepping is all about being prepared for whatever fate or fortune – by way of natural or manmade challenges – can throw at you. If you are prepped, you are ready.
But you need a plan that tells you how best to prepare for the unexpected – a plan that will at once tell you how to react, what to do, and what to expect from any given outcome.
Without a plan, you’re unlikely to know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. A plan gives you an objective, a route map for getting from A to B. As it’s always said: “if you don’t know where you’re going, any bus will take you there”. A plan makes sure you always know just where you’re headed.
Skills
When you are under pressure, when you are up against the unfamiliar challenges of a world turned upside down by a disaster or emergency, you’ll be called on to use skills you wouldn’t otherwise need. Quite simply, there are skills you’ll need to learn as a prepper that you’re unlikely to use in the normal course of events.
So, you’ll need to set about learning those specialist skills.
You can read about them in books or online with a teach-yourself kind of approach or you can sign up for and attend any number of the survival or backwoods courses that are run in many locations across the UK these days. Here you’ll learn at least some of the skills and techniques for building a shelter, starting a fire, foraging for and cooking food, collecting water, and generally surviving in a strange, unfamiliar and challenging environment.
As we’ve stressed time again, though – look again at our blog on the 17th of August 2022 – there’s no point knowing any amount of theory unless you’ve spent the hours putting it into practice. What you learnt last year, last month, or even just a day or two ago will soon fade into helpless ignorance unless you practice the skills you’ve learnt – practice them, refresh your knowledge, and practice them time and again.
Only then can you have the confidence in the skill sets you’re likely to need as a successful prepper.
Fitness
You’ve got your plan, you’ve learnt some skills – and continue to practise them so they don’t go stale – so, now you need to know that, when the time comes, you will have the physical capacity to put the plan into action and use the skills you’ve acquired. You need to be fit.
There’s little doubt that keeping fit is good for the body, mind, and wellbeing – and you’ll need a basic level of fitness to thrive as a prepper.
The discipline of a fitness and exercise regime may also help you focus on what it is that needs to be done – you can set yourself specific fitness goals that measure the progress you’re making:
- any exercise is exercise, so tackle your fitness by spending the day gardening, let’s say, or engaging in some other strenuous work to see how far you can take it without straining joints and muscles;
- see how far you can run – and vary your route to include both paved and unpaved roads and paths;
- as you develop your fitness levels, see if you can hike for the whole day while carrying a 30-pound pack on your back;
- test yourself by lifting a 7-gallon container of water – that’s around 55lbs in weight – and carrying it for at least 100ft;
- how far could you swim; and
- how far could you drag an injured member of your party to safety?
Gear
Our fourth and final pillar is the one that many new preppers mistakenly put in first place – the gear and equipment they believe it’s essential to have in any emergency or survival situation.
From tents to sleeping bags, from first aid kits to the best kind of trousers you’ll be wearing when the chips are down, you’ll find any amount of advice on what to buy and where to buy it – that’s the subject of several of our own blogs and if you are keen on researching the vast store of survival gear its possible to buy just browse your Amazon pages.
But the point we want to make here – thinking about our holistic approach to prepping – is that the gear you should be assembling is determined by those interconnected factors of planning, skills, and fitness.
It’s only when you look at the totality of your approach to prepping that you can begin to see the wood for the trees and understand precisely what gear and equipment you are likely to need – and how much of it you can safely disregard.
You’ll need to refer to your prepping plans, for example, to get a grip on what’s likely to be needed; survival gear and equipment will need to complement and not replace the skills you’ve learnt; and the type of equipment you might need will also be determined by the levels of physical fitness you have or haven’t achieved.
Summary
There’s not a single strand that unlocks the secrets of successful prepping, but a series of interconnected pillars that come together in what can be called a holistic approach.
One builds upon the other and the better you understand the interconnections, the more successful your prepping is likely to be.
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