You Are Not Alone

There is power in numbers, and when it comes to being prepared, there is great power in numbers.  It doesn't really matter what the disaster might be, when the band of prepared people gather together to help out, there is a strength and power there that cannot be found anywhere else.

Thinking of preparedness as a set of rings on a target.  Your inner most ring and strength is of course within your family circle.  This includes not only your immediate family but you extended family as well.  I remember reading a blog quite a few years ago (I wish I would have book marked it and paid more attention), and this family were very much creating their inner circle of strength.  Each adult member had their own responsibilities, for example: 

One sister was in charge of food storage orders and organization - learning anything that had to do with food storage and sharing her knowledge with the others to help them get prepared.

A brother was assigned the task of learning everything to know about heat, light, and shelter resources.  He had arranged for them to be self reliant with heat by finding great deals on wood stoves which they all installed, and then they cut a ton of wood so they had well more than a years supply of wood for their entire family.

Another brother was tasked the responsibility of learning anything he could about raising animals and sustainability with everything that went along with that.

The mother and a sister were in charge of gardening resources and so on and so forth.  Each had their responsibility - even the little children - some included communications, some sanitation, and every aspect of survival and preparedness was taken care of by one member of the family.  This member then came back to the rest of the family - they met at least once a month to do big projects or have meetings - and they would be taught by whoever learned new things.

It was a great system.  I hope to implement something like this in my own family this year.  I wish I could find this other family on the vast world wide web again, but for some reason they seemed to have disappeared off my radar.  Probably smart for them.

When we branch out of our inner family circle, we next look at our local neighborhood and / or community with it's resources and like minded people.  This would also include church members, and friends who may be like minded in their thinking and prepping.  What resources do you have there and who can you depend on?  Is there a way to meet regularly with these people and create that strength within yourselves, and the motivation, to keep moving forward and take better measures to prepare your neighborhood or community.  It will be a huge blessing when the time comes for knowledge, action, and supplies for you to not be alone in your efforts.  Trust me you are not alone, there are many others out there who feel the same, but are probably like you and want to just sit back quietly and see what happens.  Time for sitting back quietly has passed, it is time to take action and get things done.

Branching out from this second circle may lead you to various websites, online friends and neighbors, others who live a ways away, but who think as you do.  The world of preppers - as we get called - is actually pretty big, offering a wealth of information to share with each other.  There are forums, blogs, websites, you tube videos, and on and on, of resources available.  Reach out to these people and glean from them what you can, then take it back to your two inner circles, share and prepare.  YOU ARE NOT ALONE! 

I met another very nice couple the other day who think just like I do, in many aspects of preparedness.  Unfortunately they don't live in the same city as I do, but they are close enough.  We can learn from each other and help each other.  I look forward to meeting many more.  I know that I have been sitting quiet for a couple of years just watching and quietly preparing my own family.  It is now time to strengthen my inner circles of preparedness. 

What can you do to strengthen your inner circles?  Do you have a family / extended family plan and do you work together to make things happen?  Do you have an extended circle of like minded friends and neighbors who you get together with often to discuss plans and prepare?  If not, what can you do to make something like this happen.  Again I say, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, so find those others and make things happen.  Learn from each other......AND......Share your experiences with me.  I would love to hear of them.  I can be part of your extended circles and I would love it!