By Tim Gamble
1) An Attitude of Self-Reliance - You are in charge of your life, act like it. Taking personal responsibility for your life is the core of self-reliance and self-reliance is the core of preparedness and survivalism. Taking responsibility means doing what needs to be done, not just what is fun to do or what you want to do. Taking responsibility means not waiting around for others to do it for you. Taking responsibility means not assuming if you don’t do it then someone else will. Take the initiative and do it yourself.
2) Situational Awareness - Situational awareness is more than just paying attention to what is going on around you, though that is an important start. It means both knowing what to look for, and how to assess, make decisions about, your surroundings. The end goal of situational awareness is right action. Check out my article on Situational Awareness (article link).
3) Understanding Priorities - In your home life, career, and especially in an emergency, it is important to understand priorities. Understanding priorities involves recognizing the importance and urgency of different tasks or goals, and arranging them in a logical order for completion in any given situation. Prioritizing helps you manage your time and resources effectively, and greatly reduces mistakes and unintended consequences. It is a skill that can be learned. For information on priorities in a disaster, please see my article, DISASTER!! Tips & priorities for dealing with emergencies (article link).
4) First Aid - At the very least, please take a basic first aid & CPR course before an emergency hits! These basic courses are typically free or low-cost. Places you may be able to find a basic first aid course include your local YMCA, fire department, rescue squad, or community college. You also may be able to organize a course through your church, scouting organization, or a local community/civic club. Better and more advanced first aid courses, including trauma aid, can be obtained through Refuge Medical & Refuge Training (Affiliate link - gives a 10% discount at checkout on first aid kits, supplies, and training courses).
5) Self-Defense - Self-defense is starts with situational awareness, and is also the health, fitness, training, and tactics we need to effectively defend ourselves and others. Everyone should take a self-defense course. A good self-defense course won't just cover the physical aspects of self-defense, but also give tips and advice on avoiding dangerous situations in the first place. Non-lethal self-defense courses can often be found through your local YMCA, community college, and some gyms. Defensive shooting courses can be found through local gun shops, along with information on concealed carry in your area.
6) Resource Management - More than just stocking stuff for an emergency, resource management as a survival skill involves the efficient allocation and conservation of resources such as food, water, shelter, medicine, electricity and fuel. Even your time and energy is a resource to be managed. The end goal is to be able to provide needed resources, even in a long-term grid-down situation in which store shelves remain empty and supply lines are cut off. My previous survival article is own resource management (article link).
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