Writing Belle: PREPPER POST WEDNESDAY: LIVE LOCAL! HELPFUL WAYS TO REFOCUS YOUR PRIORITIES AND ESSENTIAL NEEDS

I started writing post-apocalyptic fiction and survival stories a long time ago. This fascination began when I was in high school (although I was in love with survival stories as far back as elementary school, after I read Robinson Crusoe for the very first time). Ever since, I've been writing stories about post-apocalyptic survivors who carve out lives for themselves in the aftermath of societal collapse. Even as a teenager, I was alarmed at what was happening to American society on an economic level, and I kept abreast of news and world events, which opened my eyes to the reality of global threats.

In the wake of the last year and a half, it's easy to see the writing on the wall: hyper-inflation, food and supply shortages, rising taxes, and increasing unemployment rates. Disaster is obviously looming on the horizon. We are the brink of another Great Depression, and I'm afraid that most Americans aren't even slightly prepared for it.

Since World War II, America has been a society wrapped in a security blanket of comfort and luxury. We've never really experienced extreme shortages (I realize that there was gas rationing during the 70s, and that there have been moments of economic hardship since the 40s; but nothing that rivals the devastation of the Depression). We've never had to go without something for long. In America, even the poorest members of society have the opportunity to work their way up the proverbial ladder and achieve success, indulging in those comforts and securities that our culture offers. In 2021, the inflation bubble will soon pop. Rising house prices will soon plummet. A massive influx of unemployed workers will soon flood society, thanks to the massively discriminatory medical regulations set in place by a corrupt and communistic Biden regime. America is about to be overloaded. Are you prepared? Are you ready to live within your means? Are you willing to face the reality that it's wholly possible (if not completely probable), that food shortages and supply shortages will only get worse? Do you really understand how difficult the Great Depression was - and how close we are to experiencing that kind of hardship again?

The key, I believe, to surviving this kind of economic and social collapse is to live local. Keep your needs simple, small, and community-oriented. Find your people, stick with them, and work together to maintain stability and safety. For today's weekly article - rather than post a political or social commentary - I want to talk about some things that you can do to prepare for the coming economic and cultural storm (it's mostly already here). It's all about your mindset. It's all about your priorities. It's all about unplugging from society and realizing that your needs and your wants are two very different things.

The first thing you need to do is realize that American culture has successfully brainwashed all of us into believing that we need luxury. With the rise of what many like to call crony capitalism (which is really just soft-core, corporate socialism), America is a giant marketing machine. We are the wealthiest, safest, and most successful place on Earth. The opportunity here is endless. And yet, because of corporate giants who control our media intake through television, publishing, and entertainment, we have a standard of living that we think we need in order to be comfortable. For example, do we really need cable TV? Do we really need Starbucks? Do we really need to put a Disneyland vacation on a credit card in order to take our family to the resort? Do we really need to go into extreme debt to get a college degree? Do we really need a brand new car every few years? Do we really need to buy an expensive house with a mortgage that will take 30 or 40 years to pay off? I'm not saying that all of these things alone are necessarily bad - what I'm saying is that we have a problem in America of separating want from need.

If anything, I think the draconian COVID lockdowns have at least had one positive effect; they have illustrated that you don't need much outside of your house to survive. Is it healthy to be isolated? No. But can you survive without going to the movies or eating out at a restaurant or partying at the local nightclub? Yes, you can. And you have. We have to get out of this mentality that our happiness and our well-being is predicated on luxury and comfort. When you realize that you don't need stuff to be happy, you begin to realize that the corporate world doesn't have as much of a hold over you as you thought.

One big thing that you can do to prepare for potential supply shortages is to locate your local food distributors and farms and shop there. Here's a realistic scenario for something that could play out in the Central Valley of California: Supplies on foods and necessities are low. We experience another run on basic stuff like toilet paper, medicine, produce, and meat. Our gas prices are rising so rapidly that the state or federal government begins to implement gas and food rationing. Your access to a grocery store may be extremely limited for many reasons, ranging from these new rationing mandates or other tyrannical measures that are being rolled out as we speak. Where do you go for food? Where do you go for basic supplies like tampons and cough medicine and body wash?

This is a really feasible situation that we are facing here in California, at least - and it could happen anywhere. In the Central Valley, we live in a bowl, caught between mountains on all sides. Lots of supplies have to be transported into the valley through the mountains, either up from Los Angeles at the port, or from out of state over the Sierra Nevada Mountains or through the desert toward the south. All it would take is one disaster or one tyrannical edict to close those borders and snip that supply chain like a piece of paltry twine.

This is why it's important to live locally. Keep connected to your local farms. Local dairy farms, local vegetable producers, local cattle ranches, and local grocery stores that buy from community supplies are one way to combat this possible breach of supply security. Sure, these stores are going to have more limited supplies than a place like Walmart, but they will have a steady influx of the necessities of life: food and water. Because when it comes down to it, ask yourself what you need to survive:

Food
Clean Drinking Water
Clothes
Shelter

These are the very basics - the fundamental foundational elements of survival. If you have food, clean water, clothing, and shelter, you can stay alive. When it comes down to a survival situation, our energy should be focused on getting the basics of life into our house for our families. It's so important to protect the rights of your local farmers and advocate for them, because they very well might be the ones keeping you alive during a Depression-esque catastrophe.

Another simple tactic for your family is to have your own food. Obviously, not everybody lives on a property big enough to support an entire farming operation. That's understandable. But that doesn't mean you can't be prepared for every contingency. You can start a backyard garden with staples for your family. Collect seeds and stash them safely - they will be more precious than gold if it comes down to growing your own food. Grow vegetables that are seasonal. Can, preserve, and store what you can. Even if you live in town and have a small backyard, you can check your city regulations and see if you can have a few chickens. If you have just a few hens, you have an instant protein source for your household. And if your hens stop laying, you have an emergency source of meat. If you do happen to live in the country, I recommend coming up with a small homestead plan to fall back on. We (my family) are in the building stages of arranging our little homestead. We're focusing on the basics: chickens, vegetables, and hopefully, goats.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I think the initial mobs vying for toilet paper in Costco was a small taste of the type of insanity that will hit when there is suddenly limited amounts of food for the general population. It's better to avoid that situation (I, for one, don't want to lose my life over a package of Charmin) and be prepared for it before it even happens. It's helpful to have supplies stocked up at home. Remember the story of Joseph from the Bible? He advised the Egyptians to store up their grain during the seven years of plenty and harvest to prepare for the seven years of famine that would strike the land (Genesis 41). This calm and steady stockpiling saved the country from starvation, and it eliminated the madness and panic that would have seized the population when disaster struck. We can learn a valuable lesson from this Biblical account. We, too, can calmly prepare for days of famine during the days of harvest. When you go to the store, think ahead. Think about what you would need the most in the event that the entire store's shelves were bare. I like to grab one or two extra things when I go out - nothing crazy, nothing insane. Just normal stuff, like additional toothpaste or baby wipes. These days, you never know what's going to be out of stock, anyway. It's been ridiculous just trying to find a pair of shoes at the local shoe store in my size. "We just can't get the product," is what I keep hearing. "We just don't have it." That kind of jargon is only going to become more prevalent as the days go on.

Focus on the strength of your home. This is something that I have felt really strongly about in the last few months. I have shared it with a few people, and decided to share it here, too. I realized a long time ago that, realistically, the strength of society is directly linked to the strength of the family. Strong homes breed strong, healthy societies. My husband and I have lately been feeling that our home is extremely important in terms of providing a safe haven from the craziness of society. We are very home-centered these days, and it's been a wonderful development. We have movie nights at home. We don't need the theater anymore. We have barbecues and game nights at home. We don't really need to "go out" very much (and if we do go out, we try to keep it local - small businesses for the win!). That's not to say that we're not having a normal life and working and socializing. This is to say that we have cut what I liked to call entertainment excess out of our lives and, frankly, we're better off. I've realized that we can stay local and be very happy. We can be prepared and live on the smaller side and be completely content. My point is this: you don't need very much to be happy. If you can embrace this concept fully and completely now, you will survive days of hardship much more effectively. There is so much bloat in our culture. So much garbage that is unnecessary, like TV. Realize that you can live without this, and instead of these indulgences becoming necessary to your happiness, they can be small pleasures. Pleasures that you can enjoy when you have them, but don't really miss when they're gone. This is the key to taking the control out of society's hands and putting it firmly in your own hands. You can survive without the things that the world tells you are necessary for happiness. In fact, most of those "necessary" things are just empty promises, anyway.

Focus, instead, on building friendships. On strengthening the bonds of your local community. Your friends and family are what matter. Focus on being prepared. Never be afraid. Be firm, be steady, be confident. But never be afraid - fear is a weapon of the enemy. Anxiety has no place in your home. Don't let it in. Be bold and courageous, because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). You were not made to live on this Earth to be afraid of disaster or catastrophe, so don't be! Be wisely prepared for the day of trouble, so that you can take care of your family accordingly when needed. Take one day at a time. But, like I said previously: hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. It's all any of us can do, and it's all that's needed!

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