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Self-sufficiency is an illusion,IMHO.
Any disaster that would cause the collapse of society would ultimately lead to the demise of most of it's citizenry.
Now is not like times past. Technology has created numerous hazards to human life that require daily if not constant maintenance and attention. If society fails, then all of the chemical plants,refineries, nuclear power plants,etc will be at the mercies of chance and nature.
IMHO, the BEST that you could hope for would retreating to a remote island south of the equator and praying that wind currents won't carry the numerous airborne toxins down your way.
Hate to sound cynical but preparing anything more than a short-term disaster is to live in a fools paradise.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion,IMHO.
Any disaster that would cause the collapse of society would ultimately lead to the demise of most of it's citizenry.
Now is not like times past. Technology has created numerous hazards to human life that require daily if not constant maintenance and attention. If society fails, then all of the chemical plants,refineries, nuclear power plants,etc will be at the mercies of chance and nature.
IMHO, the BEST that you could hope for would retreating to a remote island south of the equator and praying that wind currents won't carry the numerous airborne toxins down your way.
Hate to sound cynical but preparing anything more than a short-term disaster is to live in a fools paradise.
You would have to go and bring that nasty tid bit up huh? Very few would even want to survive that sort of thing.
But til then I plan to dig, claw and bite for life.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion,IMHO.
Any disaster that would cause the collapse of society would ultimately lead to the demise of most of it's citizenry.
Now is not like times past. Technology has created numerous hazards to human life that require daily if not constant maintenance and attention. If society fails, then all of the chemical plants,refineries, nuclear power plants,etc will be at the mercies of chance and nature.
IMHO, the BEST that you could hope for would retreating to a remote island south of the equator and praying that wind currents won't carry the numerous airborne toxins down your way.
Hate to sound cynical but preparing anything more than a short-term disaster is to live in a fools paradise.
Dude, find something you enjoy. Seriously. College, no College, if your heart aint in it, you prolly wont do all that well anyway. Besides, lots of degrees are not as crack up as they used to be. On this forum there are like a 1/2 dozen posts about kids in the 20s to early 30s who owe huge chunks of $$ but cant find a job.
IMO find a job that makes you feel glad to be alive everyday. Or find a ruthless miserable job that pays you so well you simply do not care because every other month your in the Caribbean drinking booze from a coconut covered in athletic girls in bikinis and tans. Or travel. Heck, this forum is chock full of people "over the hill" and i see posts all the time about how people wish they had traveled more. When I was there 7 years ago I found hotels outside of rio that were like $11USD a night.
Get a mindless soul draining job, pay off th student loans, so you dont screw anyone who co-signed for you and go do something. Dont think about it, just do it. You want self sufficiency? End up in a country where you do not speak the local language. You will develop skills in a hurry! And hey, maybe end up bilingual.
If you want to be more self sufficient, then do it. It is a set of skills. Define the skillset you want, and start working towards them. Backpacking, trail craft, mechanics or carpentry. No one has it all. I am a builder. I can build anything, but I cant trail game in the woods to save my life, i dont have the skill. But i can fix anything, machine my own gun parts or rewire an IED. Start developing the skills you want.
Want to get more in tune with the earth? Start gardening. Seriously, it cuts down on the food bill, and gets you closer than you wanted to be. You might love it or you might hate it. Dont have the room or the skills? Find a community garden and learn.
You hate the rat race? Go online and find a location with people to can deal with, that has a low cost of living with a decent medium income level and low unemployment. Like South Carolina, Missouri or Louisiana. Find something there you enjoy doing and the rest will handle itself.
I am moving from a place where the average cost of housing is 700k and median wage is 76k to a place were the average home cost is 135k and median wage is 46k. Heck, gas station attendants own homes here. Talk about culture shock!
At the end of the day, the quality of your life dictates how happy you are and positive attitude can get you:
Longer life
Laid
job
friends
new life experiences Positive Attitude - Its Power and Benefits
Read that.
keep your chin up and try something. Succeed or fail, it doesnt really matter, but do so while you can. Do it now before you have a wife and/or kids that depend on you and bills and loans/cards/cars that need to be paid off!
Self-sufficiency is an illusion,IMHO.
Any disaster that would cause the collapse of society would ultimately lead to the demise of most of it's citizenry.
Now is not like times past. Technology has created numerous hazards to human life that require daily if not constant maintenance and attention. If society fails, then all of the chemical plants,refineries, nuclear power plants,etc will be at the mercies of chance and nature.
IMHO, the BEST that you could hope for would retreating to a remote island south of the equator and praying that wind currents won't carry the numerous airborne toxins down your way.
Hate to sound cynical but preparing anything more than a short-term disaster is to live in a fools paradise.
You mean a remote island where you slowly starve to death and/or die of thirst if your not raped and tortured by pirates or eaten by shipwrecked cannibalistic middle class Americans who failed to prep?
You mean an empty remote island south of the equatorfertile enough to support the varied and plentiful plants/seeds that you have brought, large enough to support that various game you brought to breed and eat and a natural water source to supply the animals, crops and you with enough drinking water?
Cynical, you sound positively brimming with irrational optimism to me!!
Especially since that is your SHORT TERM solution.
I wish I prepped like you do!
know that there's ways to save enough, in a year or so of college, to go to the third world for your summer off, and marry a dentist, engineer, physicist, etc, who REALLY wants to go to the US. Need I say "really" a lot of times for you to catch my drift? Don't expect them to stay with you beyond the 5 years it takes for them to become US citizens. However, in that 5 years, you can gather up enough to retire quite nicely in many very nice countries. Like Portugal, Spain or Uruguay, for instance.
dont trust pre-marital written agreements. they are a trap. Own your real estate or other assets thru a Nevada corporation and don't let anyone, and I mean no one, find out about them.
Check out moving to mid-west. Warning: Some of the small towns are REALLY unfriendly. Do not expect an easy time as sometimes the town thugs even go after employment for new people, sending many running. Sometimes the cops selectively police too, ignoring the meth lab people, aggressors and drunks until someone has to use the right amount of force to avoid being harmed by senseless home-invasion burglaries in the country. I advise having no opinion about much as you just listen to the locals complain and complain while you sit in a restaurant during camping trips...
The cities are a whole different situation. I recommend reading up on the forums about any city and making some local contacts before you even think about visiting...Snoop around for the other opinion, ask the guys in the hardest and worst jobs what they think about a place when you visit...Most will tell you they would run away in a second if they got a better offer. Misery is just the new normal. They choose not to let it bother them, cut ties with the toxics and just socialize with their close ones ... Always keep enough money to leave any of it.
Get into a trade or job where you can get some experience, a good reference and leave or transfer out...Schooling is your choice and depends on the demands of employers. You could try military if you want. Some people are so hard-up for stable employment, they are choosing military enlistment into their early 30s to get away from the urban or debt mess they landed in...
Maybe you should stop visiting CD, and stop reading all the doom and gloom predictions posted on a daily basis?
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Very few would even want to survive that sort of thing.
