Being a preparedness nut is something akin to always being on red alert. Whenever I go to town, I am always thinking of alternative routes home. If we plan a trip, we make sure we have plenty of food and water and other necessities so that we can hoof it home should we have to. I rarely take the freeway in the city (there is no way to get off, you know!), instead favoring back roads and side streets. I take tow straps, tie downs and jumper cables everywhere I go. My medical kit goes with me, no matter what, and my concealed holster, well, I never leave home without it. I am that girl. Always prepared, no matter what.
But, it gets tiring. Sometimes I look at the carefree world with a bit of envy. They are unburdened, free, ignorantly naive. They spend all of their disposable income on entertainment and electronics rather than rice and radios. They get “enhancements” and beauty treatments instead of trauma dressings and emergency dental kits. They have fun, while I am being responsible. Then, I shake myself and look again. What at first appears as unburdened and free is, in reality, foolish arrogance. They think that our country is too big, too powerful to fail. They believe that we can go on spending more than we make and never face the consequences. They think that bad things only happen “to other people”. They are wrong.
I do tire of the constant threat of the end of the world. I become fatigued with the headlines proclaiming our demise. I know it is coming. I know I have to be ready. But, every once in a while, I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we are trying to do. When that happens, I have to turn off the radio, avoid the news and remind myself to put one foot in front of the other. I have to rely on my husband to guide me away from the emotional aspect of preparedness and back to the nuts and bolts of preparedness. I have to remember that I must always be ready – even when it seems that the world will perpetually go on as it has in my lifetime, with up and downs, but no real hardship. I have to overcome TEOTWAWKI fatigue with the reality that IT is coming and I MUST be ready.
Next time you get tired of the news, the constant red alert status and the fact that nothing ever seems to change, realize that the frog is in the pot. The water has been heating for quite some time and we are heading for a rapid boil. Now is the time to be the like the wise virgins with their lamps full of oil awaiting the bridegroom, not the foolish virgins who’s lamps went out for lack of preparation. Now is not the time to succumb to TEOTWAWKI fatigue. Press on toward the goal. Run the race. Be prepared.
