Embrace The Suck

Don’t Be a Survivor; Be a Thriver!

- Dana Benner

PREPPER

As the term indicates, preppers are people who spend a great deal of time preparing for an event that might or might not happen. Anyone reading this magazine is a “prepper” to some extent.

That event we are prepping for could be environmental (earthquake, flood, forest fire and the like), or it could be man-made (civil unrest, warfare, political upheaval or similar events).

Either way, most of us try to prepare for unforeseen events in some way. Here, in northern New England, we brace for yearly snow, ice storms and floods that occur with rapid snowmelt. We also have a couple of nuclear power plants we always have to keep in the back of our minds. We stockpile food, water and fuel. We gather firearms and ammunition. Some people go as far as to dig a hole in the ground and build a bunker of some sort. All of this for “just in case.”

SURVIVOR

Now, the “unthinkable” happens—that event you have been prepping for. A massive ice storm takes the electrical grid down. Maybe rising floodwaters have compromised electrical, water, sewage service and also destroyed key roads and bridges.

You are cut off from escape, and help cannot get to you. If you’ve done your homework, you turn from a “prepper” into a “survivor.” It is time to use all that stuff you have been stockpiling to keep you, your family and your friends alive.