Guilty Pleasures: Doomsday Prepping

It started innocently enough with a minor obsession: The Zombie Apocalypse. I’ve never been much of a horror person so it was surprising just how much zombie literature and movies became a beloved genre of mine. Once I was thoroughly entrenched, I started thinking about survival. Would I be one of the ones to survive the initial outbreaks or would I find myself quickly zombiefied and looking for fresh brains?

I started justifying survival to myself. At first, it was simple things like, “Living on the second floor gives me an advantage…I can destroy the stairs. Bam! Survive!”

Then it morphed into, “How much Jell-O Pudding and butter can I stockpile. Clearly, that will give me an advantage.”

Somewhere along the line though, it became more real. I invested in survival manuals and how-to guides. I researched escape routes and the best places to lay in a cache of gear.

A few years ago, right around the time of the economic collapse the History Channel and its companion channel H2 started ramping up their shows about all the varied ways the world could end; shows about prophecies and viral outbreaks, about super volcanoes and death from the skies. And suddenly, zombies didn’t worry me so much.

I started paying attention to shows like Man vs. Wild and researching predicted rises in sea level - flooding is always a worry in Florida anyway. I tried to always have at least a months worth of food in the house. It might not have been food I wanted to eat…but it was there. Just in case. I read survival blogs like this one. I made plans for evacuation. I made a list of needed supplies for my bug out bag. I learned the steps needed to go off the grid. I developed a healthy fear of technology and made a list of all the old school skills I needed to develop in order to help my family survive.

When we moved into the new house Scott began encouraging my prep work. The girls got bows and arrows for Christmas and leaning how to shoot guns is on the horizon. Hunting, gardening, canning and raising livestock are all on our list of things to learn. I took over a section of the hall closet for food storage and have an easy time of it with all the fantastic BOGO deals at Publix. It isn’t much, but it is a start.

I consider myself relatively normal. I’m not a hoarder (unless it’s scrapbook supplies and then holy moly! do I need help!). I’ve always been an idealist – maybe that’s why I keep obsessing over survival: I want the human race to survive! Personally, I’d like to be one of the ones who do survive in a disaster. And living in Florida, disaster is a six month window every year. So I proactively prep. I’d rather have a plan in place and know what to do then all of a sudden have to react.