Go Bags, Bug Out Bags, Emergency Evacuation Bags, Survival Bags……………

In life we prepare, we prepare for our work day with our purse and lunch bag, we prepare to leave the house with our children with a baby bag, diaper bag or bag of goodies for the road, we prepare when we go to a sport event or to the play ground with our kids, we prepare when we go to visit family or friends. Life is all about preparation.

Preparing for every day life comes natural and without hesitation, preparing for the unexpected, preparing for the worst, preparing for disaster is sometimes much harder to get yourself to do. In life it is much easier to prepare for the good times, the fun times, the memorable times than it is to prepare for the bad times, the sad times and the horrific times. The times that we most need to be prepared for, we do not because the fear of addressing that bad things can happen is hard. I mean who wants to think that bad things could happen to your family and yourself? Who wants to even allow those thoughts to cross your mind?

But…… if you allow yourself to address these fears straight on, and prepare for them, if it ever happened, imagine how much easier it would be to overcome. Imagine if you had the essentials to pick yourself back up and move forward, imagine if you had a way to take care of yourself and your family until help arrived. Imagine if you made sure to have the essentials, the peace of mind you would have to know that you are prepared.

Mombies

http://www.shop.mombiesbags.com

There are many names for a ready to go bag, call it what you will, but have one ready to go.

The Sky is falling…….

Denial….. I wonder why so many are in denial that “it can’t happen to me”, or “there will be someone there to save me” and just the oblivious nature that being prepared is too much trouble or a waste of time and money.

Being prepared, being ready to take on anything that comes your way.  Not just for a catastrophe, but for life in general.

Preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best.  Thinking and preparing for the future instead of just for today, saving for a rainy day, building and working in your community and making trustworthy relationships.  Listening and paying attention to your surroundings and the people around you.  Learning new skills and nurturing the old.

“It was like we had known all along that the sky was going to fall and then it fell and we pretended to be surprised.” EH

 

Being prepared is more than the goods you store, the bags you have ready, or the plans in place.   Being prepared, is being aware.

 

Dory

Why I decided to get prepared.

I haven’t always been aware of the reasons to be prepared for an emergency.  In fact, about 2 years ago I would have probably thought my present self is a loon.  However, over the past two years I have come to realize something, that having a simple preparedness plan with my family, a go bag and some reasonable food, water and gasoline storage at home is a really good idea.  I mean just look around at our country and our world and you will see all of the things going on.  So ask yourself, as I did, “could it happen to me?, could it happen where I live?”  the answer to both of those questions is probably a YES, or at least it should be a YES.

I live in a region of the country that doesn’t have much in the way of natural disasters.  I mean we have the occasional Haboob that rolls into town and coats us with a fresh coat of dirt, we have excessive heat in the summer (its a good things we have more HVAC technicians than the rest of the country combined), and we are way over due for our 100 year flood.  But lets be real, we don’t have too much to worry about right?  Well, it depends upon how you look at it.  We have a nuclear station just outside our city limits, we have a major Air Force base in our city limits, we share one of the most crime ridden borders and we have a sprawling city with millions of people residing in it………. we are a prime target for a terrorist attack.

We, like all States should be aware of disruptions to energy and information technologies.  We rely on electricity to keep us cool during the extreme heat of the summer months, we rely on gasoline as we have a minimal mass transit system and we love to drive our vehicles, we rely on our cell phones, tablets and computers to receive and disperse information to our families and friends.  We are truly a disaster waiting to happen.

So what do you do???? you can live in worry and fear and allow the unknown and uncertainty to eat at you, you can become an extreme prepper and let the paranoia make you a loon, you can ignore all the warning signs and live in oblivion or you can simply educate yourself of the potential threats in your region, prepare and find comfort in knowing that in the worst case scenario, at least you will have a plan, have a go bag and have some reasonable food, water and gasoline storage at your home.

Mombies-  Dory

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/states/arizona/

 

Having an everyday family emergency plan.

Having a family emergency plan is important.  I recommend sitting down with your family and making a plan for everyday life.

My daughter is in high school and we have made a plan for her in case of a natural or man-made disaster, as well as the unfortunate reality of potential threats at her school.  She has a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th location that she is to get to in case of any emergency.  She knows that she is to stay at one of these locations as long as it is safe until I arrive to get her.  We have gone over how long it would take me to drive, bike, and walk to these four meeting spots so she is aware of the time that it may take for me to arrive.

We discuss these meeting spots on a regular basis so that she knows what she needs to do.  It is important that she have a plan to alleviate any confusion if she ever found herself in a situation and it is comforting to her that she knows that I will be able to find her if there is a loss of communication.

My four year old attends a home daycare.  There is an open discussion with his sitter about the actions and the plan if there was a natural or man-made disaster.  We are clear about the steps and knowing that we both understand our plan of action if comforting for both me and the sitter.

Having a plan with your children and loved ones will help provide some clarity during a potentially hectic and chaotic time.

Mombies- Dory

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