Success or Failure Is Based On Maintaining Normalcy

No matter if you are child or adult, it is common to resist change. A big change, or loss of normalcy, can cause a downward spiral that is harder to combat. Now, throughout history, children have shown themselves to adapt to changes much more readily than there adult counterparts, but that adaptation takes a bit of time. I believe that our success or failure at continuing on is directly related to how much “normal” we can pack in our bags.

1. Meals – Although most of us store every day foods, we usually do not eat so much in the way of rice/beans. Much less, do we utilize dehydrated and freeze dried ingredients. It is best to get past that learning stage while the lights are still on. Try making a zombie meal once a week. Zombie meals are things you can put together without electricity that you can still make when mentally and physically exhausted. Now, you can’t cop out and do peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Have you cooked with “real” rice instead of Minute Rice? When I lived in Puerto Rico it shocked me that it took months before I could cook a pot of rice that wasn’t mush or crispy. Do you have a stock of the seasonings you’ll need to dress up your beans? Finally, there is more to it than just making sure you can use your stores. By cooking a zombie meal once a week, it becomes normal. Your children are less likely to turn their nose up to something they recognize and the acts of rough cooking and cleanup will become as natural as pulling a trigger.

2. Recipes – pick up a journal or binder for special recipes. There are tons of recipes on the Internet for making fun extras. But, we all know the day may come when we don’t have access to that plethora of information. Put together a collection for things like chocolate syrup,homemade bubbles, and laundry soap. Once again, I would try the recipes to make sure you have what you need and that the directions are complete.
3. Games – especially if you have children, there is a concern that they will not be up to the rigors of a survival situations. It is not necessary to engender fear when practicing bugging out/in. Games can teach the necessary skills and the less fear associated with the game the more successful they are likely to be in a fight or flight situation. Games of Hide and Seek, geocaching, and berry picking are all fun yet teaches the skills which may become necessary.

The idea, is to try and maintain as much normal as possible. We practice skills such as target shooting and gardening, but it may be the simplest things we haven’t practiced which can make the difference between survival and success.