Should You Choose To Accept This Mission...

CM and I often discuss the direction and mission of NRS. We are constantly adapting and growing as the world around us changes, and we want to share our dreams and goals publicly with you. In addition, we hope this may encourage you to reach out to people you may know doing similar things as us. Perhaps you or a friend would enjoy writing an article about personal resilience or want to showcase it in our forums?

What is NRS about?

As always, defining words to frame a conversation is vital. The definition of resilience is—the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and toughness. The ability of an object to spring back; is elastic. Notice that resilience is not about buying items, paying memberships, or click-baiting your audience into extracting wealth from them by any means necessary. Instead, resilience to us is the culmination of mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational skills that enable you to bounce back from hardship. Hardship can be anything from losing a job, loved one, or your health to full-fledge civilizational collapse.

We take reality seriously and have a depth of insight followed by the willpower to do something about it—we aren't just talking about doing the work; we follow through. So at the very core of NRS, CM and I want to create a place that is an open platform for everyone who takes reality seriously and is willing to work towards building resilience actively in their lives.

Yes, talking about ways to build resilience is essential, but it is only the first of many steps toward actively getting shit done. We know through the extraordinary work of Charles Hugh Smith, John Michael Greer, and James Howard Kunstler that the world is changing and that it is wise to adapt. These gentlemen have laid the groundwork that the rest of us must actively build upon to create a future worth having. Cultivating a small garden out back is a good start, but it's not the only thing to do. Taking care of as many personal needs as possible is the primary goal of building resilience in your life, and it is your responsibility alone. Asking yourself where your food, drinking water, and energy sources come from can help align you on a path that leads to a life built on the foundation of resilience. The people who cling to the privileged entitlements of modernity will have a painfully rude wake-up call when their way of life slips violently into obscurity. We, those who are working today for the benefit of tomorrow, are the future that is unfolding around us.

What are our goals at NRS?

We desire to be a center of learning and encouragement to showcase what others are doing to make themselves more resilient to life’s challenges. We would love for anybody actively building resilience, no matter how small, to post their personal stories, pictures of their work, and all the ups and downs of living a more purposeful life.

It does not matter if you are growing your first veggies on an apartment balcony or building your own solar water heater; we want to showcase your work so others can see what amazing things you are doing. To Chris and I, resilience is not about how much money you make or the size of your property—that is pure ego, and no one has time for that nonsense. However, we do have time to see you grow in all aspects of your life and the joy that this freedom brings.

We are working to make this site a sort of Library of Alexandria for everyone who understands the problems and predicaments of peak oil, resource scarcity, population overshoot, etc. This information is free, and it always will be.

If someone doesn’t want to ascribe to peak oil or limits to growth, that’s fine, but having some resilience would be great when they lose their job, have trouble paying bills, or need to support themselves and loved ones. Basic resilience for everyone is just common sense and is reasonably obtainable.

As you become more resilient, you are no longer bothered by the fear porn spewing from "resilience" or “prepper” type websites because you are doing everything possible with the resources at hand to simplify and thrive. When the idiots in DC come up with another lame brain scheme to take over the world, you yawn because you are taking active steps to weather life’s ups and downs and have no desire to be part of their chaos.

Setting boundaries:

One thing you'll find out about us is how strongly we feel about people simplifying their lives. We are not fans of "leaders" in the resilience community telling folks to grow a garden, for instance, when they do not even put in the time to show theirs to the rest of us. We value integrity and find hypocrisy distasteful. CM and I understand that not everyone wants to simplify but these "leaders" need to walk the talk and lead by example or they should get out of the way. We are not asking everyone to agree with us or our viewpoints, but we do want NRS to be a safe and welcoming place for the “doers” out there.

Something else we are not going to support is people reducing us to our age. It's a defense mechanism to justify their feelings about their inadequacies in facing the realities we bring up in our articles. If you have questions about our further thoughts on the topic, check out the article Bridge to Nowhere by CM.

We are both well-spoken, adaptive, hard-working, and passionate young men who are determined to make the most out of our time and resources. When it comes to living this lifestyle and helping fellow Americans prepare for a deindustrializing world, we love the saying, “lead, follow, or get out of the way."

What gives us purpose at NRS?

Encouraging people to take active steps to downsize, get out of debt, grow their own food, live simpler, reduce consumption, give back to the world instead of always taking, and facilitating mental health gives us a profound sense of purpose. We get so excited working on making NRS an open platform where people can talk, interact, support, and showcase their lives of resilience. Put plainly, we want to be the change we want to see in the world. Unfortunately, CM and I see no other places where younger generations can come together to discuss these topics. So instead of waiting for Peak Prosperity et al. to do any of this, we are taking the torch and doing it ourselves. These sites make you pay to be apart of their fraternity, and once you pay the overpriced $10, $30, and even as high as $75 a month, you get hounded by armchair experts who want to bully you out of the forum. This is not going to happen with NRS.

What do we wish to accomplish?

We are driven by the desire to inspire those who want to take the necessary steps to live a more local, sustainable, and healthier life. What started our work creating NRS was a yearning to show people that younger folks are taking peak oil and its civilizational effects seriously. Due to finances and personal ethics, we downsized our living standards to one that is more sustainable, leading us to pursue an alternative lifestyle. The words of JMG to “collapse now and avoid the rush” resonate with us as we live out our convictions on a daily basis on the farm. An added benefit is the mental health aspect of living simply. Writing out our thoughts, worries, concerns, and convictions enables us to grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in ways, we could not have otherwise. We feel incredible satisfaction sharing our lives and encouraging others to do the same.

We are working to make NRS a launching pad for anyone to develop forgotten skills that enrich your life and build your sense of value and purpose for yourself and your community. Having said that, we believe challenging times are upon us, and it is critical to use the ample resources that are still at hand to learn how to live with less so that it is done on your terms and not forced on you by outside pressures.

Final Thoughts:

Should you accept this mission you must know that the challenges ahead are not going to be easy but you are not alone. We are in the trenches with you every step of the way. Your fears and anxieties—we feel them too. Let us work with you in developing resilience in all parts of your life so we can pass these valuable lessons and resources on to future generations. Your standard of living will self destruct in 5,4,3,2...The time to act is now.