When You're NOT Prepping Alone

Many in the prepping world will tell you to be ready for your friends and family to think you have gone nutters when you start prepping but what about your significant other? Not every couple see eye to eye on prepping and with many couples only one person will be a prepper. Does this mean you can't share your prepping world with your better half? Not at all.

I'm a former military member previously deployed to combat areas and have traveled more of the world than a lot of my peers to include my wife but that doesn't mean people who haven't seen how bad situations can get when you haven't prepped can't get into prepping. For years my wife and family thought I was nuts. They all thought that PTSD and all that just made me flip my proverbial lid.

Until I took my wife to a preppers show.

I specifically took her to a preppers show that didn't include a gun/knife show because I didn't want her overwhelmed. We sat in on lectures by nice, polite people that may not share our political and social views but didn't let that stop them from trying to get us as informed as humanly possible.

She got to speak to people that have various levels of experience in the prepping world. She got to see that as many tables out in the expo area were looking to sell things many sellers were just as equally open to discussing and answering questions, leading her to less expensive products or even suggesting that before anything is bought she use certain sites with free information about things like practicing stitches for clothes and wounds.

She went in with hesitation and preconceived notions of the preppers and some did fit what she thought would be the "typical" prepper but more than not she found the community not crazy about the end times but passionate about being able to not just give their families a fighting chance after an emergency but their neighbors and local communities the possibility of thriving together during and after one.

This is what hit home for my wife. The idea of prepping to be nuclear apocalypse survivors in a Mad Max world blew like dust into the wind and the idea of having food, water and community after a natural disaster like a hurricane or earthquake took roots instead.

This also worked for taking my wife to a training course on how to handle an active shooter. The week leading up to the training she lamented and worried and stressed about being placed in a stressful though fake situation, until she was there. She was taught to think and stay calm, to consider alternative to a flight response. When we left she felt less scared about IF she was ever in that situation because she was given the opportunity in a safe environment to practice physically and mentally her responses.

This approach works for prepping as well. When we take someone who believes something about a particular event, people, situation, and introduce them to it they often times will be more open to seeing that they may have judged too quickly.

Someone who thinks rifles are scary and too dangerous for use can be taken to a range and shown the proper use, dismantling and reassembly of the gun, the safety precautions involved and trouble shooting of many common issues.

Giving someone knowledge and a little experience can build bridges and tear down walls. Some people will NEVER say yes to certain things like prepping but even if only one person in the relationship works on it then that is more than no one in the relationship working on it. With time your better half may even grow an interest in it.

Prepping as a couple or while in a relationship is an important but often over looked aspect that we will be covering. Please subscribe for updates!

-Bones

https://www.minds.com/LeftOfCenterPrepping