Emotional support group – Lay your burdens down

J.Swain - November 12, 2022

I just bought two of the water filter systems recommended by TP (the virus water bottle is out of stock). I’m going through waves of shaking and crying. It’s such an emotional process to be doing this. I go through it each time I take the next step in preparing. It’s really hard, but better the emotion now than later, eh?

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That is great you are taking steps towards being more prepared.

If you don’t mind me asking, what is causing the shaking and crying from getting more prepared? Is it from fear of what may happen, not knowing what to do, or joy of having something to be better prepared with?

 

For me, the reasons for why I’m doing what I’m doing hit hard at moments like these. I’ve studied the collapse of societies so each new step I take stirs up fresh fear and is upsetting. But it passes. When I buy a larger filtration system I won’t go through this.

I cried when I bought my first set of groceries to store; when I first purposely filled one 5 gallon water container; and when I loaded up on gas cans. I don’t get upset as I expand my supplies in these areas, though. Feels like an evolutionary thing, sometimes. Adaptation.

 

And while I can’t say I feel joy in doing what I’m doing, I will feel a pleasant relief when the filters arrive.

 

Thank you for your response J. To be honest, prepping can be an emotional experience for many. Some examples include those who have had nothing now have a full cupboard of 2 months worth of food and they feel joy, security, comfort among other feelings. Or there’s even those who do look at the collapse of society like you have and feel fear and anxiety about the future. 

As a friend, I want to say to you now that if you slowly and rationally build up your preps, you will find peace and happiness. Prepping really brings me comfort that the world around me could collapse and I am resilient against things that come my way.

I hope that I can share the following respectfully to show you that emotions and mental health is a reoccurring topic around here. I don’t do this to diminish your post in anyway, but to maybe offer you additional voices that you might want to hear. Many of us have our thoughts and concerns while prepping and I hope you can find comfort in that.

• How are you doing? Times are stressful, keep an eye on how you are handling things
• Philosophies for good mental health
• Disaster Burnout – How to recognize it and what to do about it if it happens to you or the people in your group

Up above I mentioned that if you slowly and rationally build up your preps you will find peace. The opposite is doing it out of fear and not knowing what to do (example, seeing news article about nukes and then going out immediately and spending $10,000 on radiation suits and an underground bunker). Setting a budget, reading rational articles about specific gear or techniques, and prepping on your terms can bring peace. Here are two of The Prepared’s core articles that I highly recommend everyone read:

• Rational reasons why you should be prepared
• The Sane Prepper Mantra: Common sense rules for prepping

Thank you for your openness and for sharing what you are going through.

 

Thank you for the links. I scrolled through the forum and didn’t see anything (which kind of surprised me) so thought I would start a thread. I appreciate it. Thanks again!

 

I’m not an emotional guy but I do get emotional about prepping.  Quite the opposite of you, I get a big wave of good feeling every time I get more prepared.  I remember when I was in the mode of building up my long term food stores.  I wanted to have some food for my neighbors on our dead end lane.  I had set myself a goal of around 80 lbs of dried food per person.  After every two 6 gallon pails, ballpark 80 lbs of food, I would feel very proud and say to myself… one more person helped.

 

I totally get that! I’m also aware of community building. I recently took down a shop to clear space for a garden area. My neighbors were happy to see the decaying building go, but when I said I was thinking we could use it as a communal garden later they were *super* happy. They have a small lot. I’m on acreage. There *are* lots of feel good moments in all of this, too 🙂

 

Good for you for pushing ahead even when you find it stressful – that means you’re brave! 🙂

I can’t directly relate to the stress over acquiring gear – to me that has always been a mix of two things, depending on the type of gear.

Some of it’s just a boring part of being a responsible adult, that I do automatically, without really dwelling on “why.”  Things like food, water, car kit, get replenished without a second thought in the same way as I change the battery in my smoke alarm without getting anxious about the possibility of a house fire. 

And some (anything more hard core and “out there”) feel like fun new toys I can get excited about.  I look forward to trying them out, showing them off to my friends, and maybe using them on my next camping trip.

However I do think I’ve had a similar reaction after taking first aid classes, especially one I remember from years ago, a pet first aid class.  I was in my teens at the time, but I still remember being unable to sleep afterward, lying awake worrying about all the horrible things that might happen to my dogs.  I should have felt good – I already knew the world was a dangerous place, and I had taken a step toward being more prepared – but instead it was a very upsetting experience, making the risk feel more “real.”  Emotional responses to things are not always logical, or what you would expect them to be. 

 

I can relate to your experience with the pet first air class… I got my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification so that I would have more confidence in the backcountry. Shortly after that, my dad and I attempted to summit Mt. Whitney together, and I basically refused to continue after the first night. He hadn’t trained and was kind of out of shape, and my fresh WFR training had filled my head with all the things that could go wrong— and how little I could actually do if any of those things did go wrong. We did the trip the following year and easily topped out, but we took the popular “portal” route that most hikers take, which allows you to get to the summit and back in a day. I was super disappointed that my training had made me more anxious instead of more confident, but I’d rather be anxious and informed/skilled/trained than anxious and uninformed/unskilled/untrained.

 

The water filters came in! Yay! And dang. They’re awfully light for such a heavy burden.