Today we are going to talk about knowing your own limits. It’s not something that you hear a lot of pepper’s talking about. It is however a subject that we all need to be keenly aware of however. I routinely see articles that talk about the gun drills they do and the exercises they practice on a regular bases. However, not everyone is cut out to do some of the exercises they preach on and on about.
Take me for example, I’m 60 years old and have a bad back, but I still get around pretty good. I walk several miles a day and try to stay busy to keep myself in the best shape I can. In fact, I think I actually have a real chance at surviving whatever comes, simply because I know my own limits and prepare with that in mind. We are not all cut out to walk a hundred miles and take on the enemy in hand to hand combat. I wish I could, but it would be foolish to even try. All I would succeed in doing is slowing others down and getting myself killed and I know it.
I can however shoot a Rifle or Pistol pretty darn well and have no issues about doing what is necessary to protect my family and friends. My point is that you don’t have to be Rambo to survive; you just need to know your limits and train within them. I am also a licensed HAM radio operator and know communications pretty well. I am also a pretty good cook over an outdoor fire. I have also been studying First Aid as well as other items like wood working with primitive tools and blacksmithing. I may not be able to do a hundred mile forced march, but I can beat the heck out of a nail or piece of hot metal.
I try to focus on skills that will be needed in an SHTF situation. Knowing your own limits is the first step to truly preparing for any situation. You need to sit down and put your pride aside and do an honest evaluation of your physical abilities. If you falsely try to believe that you are younger than you are or can still do the things you did when you were still young, then you will wind up in a world of hurt. People will depend on you to be honest about what they can reasonably expect from you. You have to be honest with yourself before you can be honest with them.
Once you have made a list of what you can physically do, then go about training for skills that fall within those abilities. There are a lot of things that could be needed in a survival situation other than being infantry. Find skills that will be needed and learn everything you can about them. Practice them as much as possible and never stop learning new things. The more you know, the more useful you will be in a SHTF situation. Anyone can learn how to shoot and by all means you should as well. Just don’t go letting yourself believe that you can rock climb or hike a hundred miles if you actually can’t.
In an SHTF situation, someone will need to know how to cook food, clean and butcher animals as well as tend a garden and repair small engines. Below is a list of skills that a person who’s who physical limitations might want to learn to help them realistically prepare for SHTF. Just because you are disabled or have limitations on what you can do, doesn’t mean you will just have to roll over when things get bad. Get angry, get determined and then get educated because in the end, all you will really have is your knowledge and your experience.
Remember that prepping is not a destination, but a journey that is fuelled by your will to be prepared for whatever may come. So be honest with yourself and learn everything you can, that may be of use when SHTF comes your way. If you can do the hundred mile forced march, then good for you, but remember to be nice to those that can’t because they have their own job to do (and may be the ones taking care of you later on if something happens). It’s going to take all of us to put this country back together when she falls, but just like our forefathers, if we all pull together, there is nothing we can’t do.
- Small Engine Repair
- Animal Husbandry
- Carpentry with primitive tools
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Meat preparation
- Meat smoking and canning
- cooking
- farming
- First aid
- Alternative medicine
- Foraging
- Communications
- Fence building and design
- Finding water
- Tracking animals
- child care in a primitive situation
- Teaching
- Raising chickens
- Raising Rabbits
- Raising goats
- Raising cattle
- Raising pigs
- Raising horses
- Bee keeping
- Off grid Power
- Security
- Bartering
- Trapping
- Tanning hides
