Why You should Share your Prepping

Often, there’s a slight tension in the prepping community as to whether they should openly tell their friends, family, and the people they know about their prepping activities. It’s important to consider because having a strong community of preppers is essential to successful prepping. But there has been an unofficial rule to keep your prepping totally hidden. During the 2008 financial crisis and presidential elections, most bloggers and vloggers at the time used their fake names or handles when talking about prepping for a crisis.
Now more than ever, as the world is facing a health crisis that’s affecting the economy and keeping everyone at home, the value of prepping has been realized by everyone. If you’ve been prepping before the coronavirus hit us, you must have been proud of yourself. But in some way, you have probably become concerned about other people, especially the people close to you, because some are not prepared for this. It helps if more people are prepared.

Why Prepping has been Mostly a Secret Activity

If you’re one of those people who want to secure safety at all times, prepping has probably been something you are doing. But people are motivated to keep it a secret because, in the early days of prepping, there was a stigma about tinfoil-hat crazy people living in the woods, giving rifles to their toddlers. No one wants to be thought of being like them.

Second, back then, prepping was something only a few people were doing, and there’s a pretty good chance that you’re the only person in your peers and social network who cared about preparing for the worst. Sometimes, we become reluctant to share it for fear of looking wear, fear of being called “crazy” or “neurotic.” When you’re merely realistic because you know that inevitable disaster may strike your vicinity, some people will be quick to label you as “the person waiting for doomsday.”

Even worse, when SHTF, people know you are prepared, so they will ask for your help and come to your house unannounced, putting you and your family in danger. It will be a big dilemma for you because you don’t want to be seen as selfish and greedy, yet you know your supplies are only enough for your family. Nobody wants to be the person known as the one with all the stuff and the target for looting.

To avoid these from happening to you, share it only with your inner circle of friends, family, and super trusted neighbors.

Reasons to Share Your Prepping

There is a fine line to tread between being too secretive and too open when it comes to prepping activities, but sharing some of your prepping activities and knowledge outweigh the risks. Here are some reasons as to why you can benefit from sharing your prepping:

1. You gain from having more people around you who are ready for a crisis.

If your neighbors who have small children come to your house knocking, hungry, and asking for any food, would you turn them away if you are prepared? What if it was a relative who evacuated from their home from another town, desperate for your help? It’s a difficult choice whether to help them or not, given that both of you are suffering from a crisis. But you can help avoid this kind of problem by encouraging people around you to have their own disaster preparedness plans and own supplies.

When you share your prepping efforts and wisdom, more people around you can be prepared for a crisis. If they are prepared, people are less likely to be dependent on you. It will prevent awkward situations when you have to turn them away to secure supplies for your own family. In a prepared community, you can have a wider availability of supplies. So, if it’s you who need something, there’s a greater chance that someone can actually help you.

2. You can have shared resources and skills.

If you shared your knowledge and encouraged people close to you, you can pool resources for more expensive purchases. You can also pool skills. It’s not likely to have one person to be an electrician, while also being a good medic and a preparedness leader. If you create your mini group of preppers involving different households, you can be assured of help, and you can be helpful for another family in times of need.

And if people around you know how to prepare, you can find strength in numbers. Imagine a situation where you find yourself in danger, and you have no one with the right knowledge on how to rescue you but yourself. If there are other people prepped beside you, you can find help in danger and crisis situations.

3. There’s already less stigma.

Today is a different world from 2008. People of every kind are preparing already. More people now know that there are many good reasons to prepare, especially now that the world is suffering from an unforeseen health crisis. In the future, prepping would mean being ready for floods, earthquakes, fires, car accidents, and even war and economic ruin.

Since prepping has become more sensible for more and more people, it will help if you can find a community of like-minded people. You can learn a lot from other people, and you can be very helpful for someone, too.

4. You can help build a prepping community that makes everyone stronger and more motivated.

Sharing is a free gift to others. Let’s be honest – you are keeping prepping tools, gadgets, and supplies for the benefit of your loved ones – not for the whole neighborhood. While you may be able and willing to share these things during a disaster situation, it’s better if you have shared knowledge beforehand, so when SHTF, people are prepared with enough supplies for their own household. The right balance for preppers is the middle ground of “love thy neighbor” and “put your family first.”

If you believe that most people around you are ignorant of and unprepared for the real dangers you may all face in the future, one of the best ways to help is to encourage them and help them get prepared on their own.

And also, if we work on these hobbies with people we enjoy, and people who also appreciate the value of prepping, your happiness and even job performance go up. If you join a prepping community, you can start reaching out to people who can be a great addition to your group.

Tips on How to Start Sharing

Here are some helpful ways on how to bring up the topic of prepping with other people.

Rather than jumping right into teaching and preaching what they need to do, make sure they’re the type of people who are doing something to be ready for emergencies. If you’re unsure, ask. Hear them out first.

Keep it sane. Don’t picture out an exaggerated disaster. You already have a lot of examples of disasters to choose from – like the severe earthquakes in California, or the hurricanes along the southeastern coast. Let them think about what they need to do in case these things happen again, but this time in their communities. If you make the situation seem logical and likely to happen, people will drop their barriers.
If most natural disasters happen in a far area from them, help them picture out a real scenario. Like for instance, “What would happen if a tornado struck your neighborhood and your kids are alone at home, while you’re at work?” Assess their preparedness for the inevitable and help them from their perspective.

Keep it simple. Some people think that prepping means having to own a bug out home in the countryside, or having to milk their own cows, or having a vegetable harvest in their non-existent gardens. Help them understand that prepping can be as simple as getting a few weeks’ worth of supplies in the home, so if some disaster strikes and their family gets stuck at home, they will not get hungry. It can be as simple as having a power bank or a generator in case of a week-long blackout.

Share why you enjoy prepping and what you have learned. For instance, many adults today find it hard to hang out with friends and get out of the house for fun because of their many responsibilities at home and work. Even if that escape is the only reason why you enjoy prepping, why not share it, and maybe they will too!