Stop Paying People to Think for You
For too long, we have taken the path of least resistance and have chosen to outsource any and all of our problems to someone else. We are witnessing the cataclysmic and sudden unraveling of society—which usually happens over centuries.
What happens if you rip a hole in one of your t-shirts? The answer these days is to throw it away. We throw it away because it’s far too easy for us to replace such items of apparent insignificance in no time at all.
Less than a hundred years ago, most people would need to sew that shirt because it might be the only one they owned. They’d never dream of throwing something so precious away because it was not so easily replaced.
We’ve lost so many abilities that were expected knowledge among our ancestors—basic cooking, homeopathic remedies, sewing, carpentry, gardening, et cetera. We no longer have those skills because we have allowed ourselves to become greedy and lazy. Why should I know how to cook when I can get in my car and drive down the road to eat unhealthy fast food?
There are people alive today that quite literally don’t do anything at all. They live off government assistance, so they have no incentive to get a job, and they do nothing but put a strain on society to continue ensuring they are fed and happy. In days gone by, if you decided you didn’t want to work—you’d die. Full stop. Handouts by the government were not a concept. If you didn’t work, then you didn’t eat.
What has me concerned more than the physical abilities we’ve lost are the mental ones. Believe it or not, we have outsourced our fears and anxieties. If you’re a person who is concerned about the direction our society is headed, don’t you worry because there are hordes of websites that cater to fanning the flames of your deepest fears, all for the small price of a recurring monthly fee.
Those sites will be your personal information scouts to scour the internet for all the fear porn that really gets the old ticker pumping. You don’t need to worry about your concerns anymore because those sites will do the fretting for you, and they will tell you when it’s definitely time to panic. Make sure you don’t stop paying them because they are your life raft—an antidote to all the world's ills. We need to stop giving rich people our money to have them tell us how to live our lives.
Not only have the majority of our society lost the necessary skills to survive in a world more complicated than today, but they’ve also relinquished all rights to their mental sovereignty.
This article may seem all doom and gloom, but it isn’t. I’m highlighting these observations so we can come together to work on building ourselves to be more resilient in a world turned upside down. Those past skills can still be learned.
As you work on your own resiliency you become less and less dependent on those personal information scouts who are more than happy to take your money to think for you. Instead, invest your money in yourself. No longer are you captivated by their clickbait content and red alerts so you are free to focus energy into things that matter including your health, resilience, and community.
In 2020, during the height of the COVID hysteria, we left our D.C. jobs, packed up our apartment, and simplified our lives. We are learning the skills necessary to help others bridge the divide between our current industrialized reality and the unknown de-industrialized future.
We simplified early to avoid a full-on “sudden collapse” which we expect to happen to a majority of the people around the world. We got rid of so much crap that we didn't need and moved into a 40-foot shipping container that we’ve steadily made into our home.
Our water, right now, comes from a hand-pump well we dug ourselves. In the very near future (as in a couple of weeks), we plan on digging a new well and installing a solar-powered submersible pump to ease our pumping burdens. In addition, there is a strong stream running on the north side of the property as well as a couple of IBC water collection totes in different parts of the property for use as emergency backup.
Currently, some of our food still comes from the grocery store, but if you’ve ever checked out our weekly update, lovingly written by CD, you’ll see we have quite an extensive garden. We have been pushing our food production into overdrive after seeing the shortages in stores and gas prices skyrocketing. Contrary to what most “preppers” believe, you won’t be able to buy yourself out of a food crisis.
We are raising chickens and ducks for their eggs and fantastic ability to scratch and fertilize large pieces of land. We found out ducks aren’t our thing because the input of work on our part is not equal to the output from the ducks. We love them dearly, but we aren’t going to wade into that pond again.
To combat the heat, we make conscious decisions when it comes to clothes and also how we set up the house and property. Speaking of clothes—CD just finished an article discussing summer clothes and hygiene for men living off-grid that‘s definitely worth the read. Our shipping container is set up in the shotgun fashion seen in the old days all over the south. The term “shotgun” is used because the idea is that you can stand at the front door, shoot a shotgun, and the blast would be able to go through the back door without hitting anything in the house. The design of the house lets an amazing amount of fresh air circulate and helps reduce heat fatigue.
Another way we’ve found to beat the heat is soaking in watering troughs. Sometimes we’ll do the work that needs to be done in 30-45 minute intervals and then soak for 10-15 minutes. We’ve seen this helps cut down on the crankiness and frustration that accompanies being overheated.
I’m sure people reading this might think it’s stupid to live this way when we have so many technological advances that allow us to live comfortably, even in the most austere locations. We are both highly educated and understand all the arguments. I’m telling you about all these simpler ways of living to show you it is entirely possible to simplify your life and still maintain a certain standard of comfort.
We are beyond peak oil and we are already witnessing the devastating consequence of greedy resource annihilation. Now is the time to become the antidote for your own problems. Insource your anxieties so you can intently work on them. There are infinite ways to become resilient—none of which require paying someone to tell you how to do it. You know what’s best for you.
The biggest hurdle for younger folks right now is their inability to find and afford land. If you read this article and have this as your argument against simplifying please reach out to us through our contact page and talk to us about your questions. Another option is to check out our resources page. We are not affiliated with any of the links—we just share what we read and watch to help others become more resilient.
If you’ve been fortunate and have some money to buy land but aren’t sure where to start, go check out the Finding Home Series written by Christopher David. He has done painstaking research into so many different categories to help us and anyone else find the perfect piece of land to call home.
This next chapter isn’t going to be a walk in the park, but it doesn’t have to suck as bad if you simplify now and build your resilience. Join us on this journey and talk to us about what you’re doing to build yourself up in the comments of this article and in our community forum.
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