I'm a prepper. Big news there, anyone who reads my blog should know that by now.
I'm NOT a survivor. Or let me rephrase that: EVERYBODY alive today is a survivor. Breathe much lately? Than yer probably surviving.
The only way one doesn't survive is by not breathing. AKA dead. Which I'm not. Yet, anyway.
But prepping, at least for me, isn't about surviving. Surviving is about staying alive. And its pretty amazing the lengths life will go to in order to remain alive. For those afficianados of Jurassic Park, remember, Life will find a way. Then grow up and become big enough to eat you. The point of prepping is to not be the one eaten.
Some folks tend to confuse limited with limiting. The house I'm in now is limited. Wood heating, which means I have to make sure the fire is going. There is the option of electrical heat, but the amperage I have available is limited to 20 amps. And if I want to run my coffee pot, refrigerator, occasional microwave, and/or hotplate range, I have to switch around to not pop the breaker. So I just keep the heater off.
I don't have cable. I don't have satellite. I did break down and splurge on ROKU so I can use my Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts on the TV here. Don't need it, but its nice. Hell, the antenna installed by my landlord picks up almost 50 channels from Detroit. Granted, there are usually only three shows on, but its STILL fifty channels....
(Actually, there are a LOT of shows, I'm just not enough of a TV watcher to be interested in any more than about 3 of them...usually those where I'm learning something.....)
There are limits to living here. But despite that, its NOT limiting. We're not cramped in a 30 foot fifth wheel! There's actually 10X that space here. Doug, my benefactor/landlord, said it was 300 sq ft. Which used to seem small to me, but after a year in a box, this is HUGE!
Did I mention I have to fill a water reservoir from a hose I have to run to the outside of the main house? Once filled, it will last probably 2 weeks. I don't know for sure, because I've filled it at the halfway point so far, and am learning to be frugal with water. But even this isn't limiting. Just limited in my usage. And its a good exercise in case there comes a time when even that isn't an option.
I believe my dad would have called it self discipline. Which he was very fond of telling me was a good thing. And teaches me responsibility. Which was another thing he seemed inordinately fond of telling me I should pursue.
Oh, and I have chickens! They aren't laying, and I'm telling myself its because I just got them, they're still adjusting to the move, and its fucking COLD, but either way, if they don't lay eggs, they're still edible, just takes a little more effort than cracking a shell on the counter. Got em free, so I'm ahead of the game there in any case. But if I don't get some hen fruit soon, I'm gonna use some of my water reserves to start a pot boiling....
But, like usual, I digress...
For those of you who are still looking at the title of this post, scratching your heads and trying to figure out what the fuck it all means, this is for you. Spelled out: What The Fuck is Shit Hit The Fan? Is it The End Of The World As We Know It?
And having made sure every one is on the same page now. Metaphorically speaking, as we are obiously at this point all on THIS page, let me enlighten you on the point of this post and title:
The end of the world as we know it is: As WE know it. Not as others understand it. The "world" is different to every single person, creature, insect or animal. And every breath taken is different than the one before or the next you'll take.
Am I living in a mansion by the sea? No. But I'm warm, I'm fed, and I had a fairly decent bowel movement this morning right after rolling out of bed which started my day off pretty damn good, thank you very much. I got a couple beers in the fridge, one of which I'm gonna pop as soon as I'm done rambling here, and a sweet wife who is not currently annoying me, but will as soon as she reads this post. (She subscribes, so.....)
And my life is GOOD. Its not the end of my world. And its a far cry from Shit Hit The Fan.
I've lived that. Get shot sometime, you'll figure out what I mean. THAT will end life the way you know it, I GUARANTEE! Just make sure it don't end LIFE, period. That will kind of defeat the purpose of this experiment in the first place. Please hold all questions until the end of class, when all will be ignored until the pop quiz. Thank you.
I think more folks should sit down and figure out what's important. Go ahead and take that next breath, I'll wait. What do you smell? Taste? (I guess that last would depend on whether you're a nose or mouth breather.... no judgement here. You do you!)
Now close your eyes. Can you still picture the last thing you saw before this little exercise? Is that the last thing you will ever see? Probably not, just open your eyes. But what if it was? Is it something worth seeing for the rest of eternity? I have a computer screen in front of me, but thankfully have been blessed with good peripheral vision. To the left is my dog snuggled into his blankie on the floor, and to the right is my wife with her headphones on, watching South Korean soap operas on her phone. Both sides bring me happiness for personal and separate reasons. Until my wife reads this and finds out I outed her addiction to foreign soaps to the world, and hurts me.
And I'm secure in the knowledge that I can handle whatever comes. I don't have everything I've ever wanted, but I have everything I need.
So let me end this by saying: The world ALWAYS, every second, ends as we know it. Every second brings new discovery and new problems and new joys. If all you're doing is breathing, you AREN'T living.
That's just surviving.
