06/29/2018 / By Frances Bloomfield
Say you have the essentials to get you through a crisis: a fully-stocked food and medicine supply; the finest survival gear money can buy; a home furnished specifically for emergencies; and a solid vehicle to get you out of dodge in a jiffy. Will all of these guarantee your survival in a post-collapse society?
Of course they won’t.
Survival isn’t just about what you have around you: It’s also about what you have inside you and who you have around you — your mindset and your team.
Take it from a man who goes by the pseudonym, the Venezuelan Prepper. As you can gather from the name, he’s a prepper who just happens to live in Venezuela, currently the very definition of a post-collapse society. This is a country wherein the people have to contend with extreme food shortages, a severely weakened healthcare system, and violent riots against a corrupt and failing government. His own wife and son were recently caught up in a frenzy of desperate people pushing and clawing at each other over powdered milk rations.
In spite of all that, he’s getting by. Despite the grim reality just outside of his door, he still finds the time to write about his experiences and share them with the rest of the world. He has his mindset and his family to thank for his resilience.
In his own words: “This psychological aspect of survival is very important, it is much more important than the equipment you can have. It allows the person to use skills, strength, and rational reserves to face whatever comes ahead. If a survivor can avoid a negative mind state…it will stimulate the very needed creativity to find original solutions to problems that will appear.” (Related: Mental preparedness: How to think like a survivalist.)
He adds that camaraderie and companionship provided by a good team lend you strength as well. “The psychological team support is very, very much needed,” explained the Venezuelan Prepper. “It has been like this since humans started to settle down in caves…It will allow you to collect the needed strength to overcome the harsh situations, and will generate comfortable environments to ease the stress, providing life, not just survival.”
The temptation to give in to the psychological stress heaped on by a crisis is a strong one, and he acknowledges it. But allowing your frustrations, anger, and sadness to overcome you will just exhaust you. Don’t let that happen. Steel yourself to handle these emotions in a productive manner. Having other people with whom you can share these feelings with is a huge asset and will help lift a big load off your shoulders.
If you’d like to learn other valuable survival skills, visit Survival.news today for in-depth guides.
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