Don't Be Stupid!

Blogroll Me!Obviously this is not as gender specific as it sounds. Significant other can be substituted for wife. I think the advice is sound. This writing is a submission from a non-fiction contest This came from
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Survivalism And Your Significant Other

August 10th, 2010 by mdcreekmore in Uncategorized

Non-Fiction Writing Contest Submission by BGNoyce

Looking at various survival blogs and forums I’ve seen the question many times similar to, “my wife is resistant to the ideas of preparation and survivalism. How can I get her on board?” The advice usually consists of, “leave her, she’s stupid. I hope she gets eaten by zombies!”

Chances are, if your asking this question though, it is you who are coming to a new perspective, and it’s probably not fair to expect your significant other to completely change over night or to even do anything more than to eventually accept and respect that this is something important to you.

Here is some advice on how to, if not bring your significant other on board, at least allow them to not be threatened by your new perspective.

1. Don’t be a crazy person. Yes, it is very clear to you that the latest news report about cute zoo panda’s failure to copulate is a sign of the coming end times, but your significant other may think it’s just a cute story.

Seriously though, don’t put everything you read and see into the context of the end of times, even if it really is ominous signs. Your preparing for an uncertain future, the second you start to claim foreknowledge your family starts to worry, especially with all those guns.

2. Don’t be a gun nut. Or at least don’t appear to be a gun nut. Personally, I can’t imagine not having a fully loaded AK in the closet, but if you and your spouse have never had a gun in the house, and suddenly you come home with an assault rifle 3 pistols and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, it might make them a bit uncomfortable.

If your wife is concerned about having a firearm in the house, its important for her to understand this isn’t a knee jerk reaction. Take some NRA classes before you even buy a gun, many basic gun courses provide the firearms, and some ranges rent firearms for use on the range. Do this even if you have previous experience with guns.

Show her you’re going to be responsible, and that you understand the real risks involved. When you get the gun, don’t spend the extra money on a laser and custom grips and high performance special forces trigger job, spend some money on some good safety gear, such as a lockbox for your pistol.

As a husband I feel my family’s safety is my moral responsibility. I feel it is not just my right to own a gun but my responsibility. But you should understand, that, you didn’t have one before, so she is going to be a little unsure of why you feel you need one now.

The media tells her constantly that guns are the reason bad things happen. Eventually you may need to just bring a gun home, but do everything first to help her understand that you are going to be a responsible gun owner, and that the gun has nothing to do with your ego.

3. Start small. Most people can see the logic of a couple of cases of water in the closet. An evacuation bag in case of an emergency is also a pretty easy sell. The truth is, not having an emergency kit in the car actually borders on neurotic behavior.

How many people die in their cars just barely outside of civilization because they don’t have a simple survival kit in the car, or even some water in the trunk? AAA wont do you any good if your cell phone is down or you forgot it.

4. Use your stuff sometimes. A lot of survival doctrine states never to use your supplies until your rotating them out, there is good logic to this, but I would encourage you to sometimes allow an early rotation of an item if your significant other needs it.

When they need something and you say, oh, hold on I have one in the evacuation bag, it may help change their attitude about preparations on an all most subconscious level. Also, using your stuff helps you realize where flaws might be.

5. Don’t be a bummer. Try and laugh at yourself. If your significant other is teasing you about your survivalism, they may be starting to feel comfortable with it as an aspect of you. If you respond by slamming your fist on the table and yelling, “you wont be laughing when the big one comes!” it may be counter productive.

6. Don’t spend all the money. If money is tight, especially, be frugal with your preps. Try to find inexpensive solutions, find ways to re-purpose things you already have, look for used items at yard sales and whatnot. Don’t say, “I didn’t pay the cable bill because I found a great deal of freeze-dried chocolate bars.

You should be reading survival manuals instead of watching tv anyway.” Don’t get too worked up thinking that it’s happening tomorrow. We all feel like that sometimes, and while it’s true, that it might all come crashing down tomorrow, it probably wont. Keep working on your preps, as your resources allow, steadily working survivalism into your life.

7. Look for survival related hobbies. Let’s face it, sitting around thinking about how you can eek out a horrible existence in a post apocalyptic world may not sound as fun to your wife as it does to you. The good news is, many of the aspects of survivalism may be interesting to your significant other if removed from the context of preparing for a dark and depressing future.

Activities like camping, and hiking are very appealing to many people, and you don’t have to turn it into a simulated melt-down to get some good training out of it. A big family camp-out can be great for testing out gear, organizing, figuring out how much water you use, what camping food and recipes family members enjoy, and extra items that should be included for family members in emergency bags.

It is also a great opportunity to justify some extra survival gear, because it will be camping gear. Even if your family doesn’t ever begin to accept the possibility of a major collapse, if it does happen, your family will be more equipped psychologically for roughing it if you’ve spent a lot of time camping.

If you always keep your camping equipment ready to go you have the basis of a survival kit. Even a day hike helps you learn to organize bags, and answers some questions about how much family members are comfortable carrying, how far and fast are they comfortable walking and whatnot.

If you can get your wife into a hobby with you like gardening, shooting, or gold hoarding, they may begin to become interested in your particular survivalist slant on the subject.

With regards to getting your significant others and families involved in survivalism many people may suggest that you should just lay down the law, like Noah did, “we’re building an ark and that’s final. Now bake me up some flat bread or whatever”.

Sometimes you may need to put your foot down, but over all most of us will probably not have much luck running our families old testament style. Respect your loved ones concerns and they will most likely learn to respect your preps.

Have other suggestions – please share in the comments below.