Skills, community and you

[Cosmoline]

I was married 40 years and didn't need my wife to work to make ends meet, she worked doing what she liked to do.

Those were different times and inflation along with the way the elite are running the world won't allow a middle class lifestyle.

What will help is learning to do home, auto and health repairs on your own stuff.

My next point is learn the value of everything, there is money all around you just waiting to be used to make more money.

Like I said, the answers are inside you.

That's what's led me down the career path I'm on (I do building maintenance/repairs). Always enjoyed fixing my own things, cars notwithstanding. Swapped my own axel recently!

I've been debating starting my own handyman gig. If not that, getting back into locksmithing since the money in that is incredible.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Just tossing this out here...
Learning a skill and the practicing of it...is important.

However....
Sometimes the best learned lessons come from having fun while learning.

Many times on this forum I read of how one use practice drills , be at a certain awareness condition or level and the like...
All of which is good...if you are of that type of mindset.

I have had experience when feces hits the rotating oscillating device...and it is important to be situationally aware or be well practiced in a skill.

With that said...
Learning to , say make a fire with flint and steel or a bow drill....is something I learned a long time ago...and it was for fun....
Practicing good marksmanship and safe firearm handling served me well in the Army...but again...I knew how long before....
Situational awareness was a valuable trait during my 4 combat tours....

But all of the above...was learned and practiced long before it was needed...
And much was learned and taught , because it was fun to do...and not with a "must have to learn this , 'cause the world is falling apart mindset".

I guess I'm trying to say ...relax...learn , enjoy what is in front of you and don't lose sight of the trees 'cause of the forest.
Take time to enjoy and have fun...guns , the skills related to them and the like , can be learned and practiced , without having a "mission" or being solely focused on one thing.
Andy

 

[Longwalkhome]

That's what's led me down the career path I'm on (I do building maintenance/repairs). Always enjoyed fixing my own things, cars notwithstanding. Swapped my own axel recently!

I've been debating starting my own handyman gig. If not that, getting back into locksmithing since the money in that is incredible.

In an uncertain world the more skills the better off you will be but the real skill to develope is being able to see the changes comming and be ready for them.

We started a family after 12 years of marriage and we were in our early 30s. Worst time in the world to start one as our government destroyed the NW economy with the spotted owl.

Today my wife has been dead for ten years but my kid is doing great, I don't regret for a second having a family.

 

[Cosmoline]

In an uncertain world the more skills the better off you will be but the real skill to develope is being able to see the changes comming and be ready for them.

We started a family after 12 years of marriage and we were in our early 30s. Worst time in the world to start one as our government destroyed the NW economy with the spotted owl.

Today my wife has been dead for ten years but my kid is doing great, I don't regret for a second having a family.

Bushcrafters have a saying I like "knowledge is one of the most important tools you can have. It weighs nothing and you carry it with you everywhere"

I actually helped a friend of mine with some conservation of those owls! It was kinda fun, and a lot creepy. We walked around in the woods with a big boombox that played a mating call and we recorded if we got responses. We got two and he was sure they were female which was a good sign.

Sorry to hear about your wife. At least your kids are in good health! We're both on the same foot when it comes to wanting a family but she being more pragmatic than I, is more nervous considering the state of things. Also we agree we won't try to raise a kid in a one bedroom apartment.

 

[Longwalkhome]

I look at the past when my FIL lived through some very bad times. Born in 21 he lived through the deppression and fought WWII. When he came back he started a family and gave me my wife for 40 years.

Hard times happen, some of his stories of life during those days still remind me many generations will have hard times.

Surviving them, it's going to depend on how hard the times are. You can do everything right but still suffer. Yet if you get through them then life can be better.

 

[SrMachoSolo]

One of the biggest things I believe goes understated in any survival plan is community. We need those of us with like minds and complimentary skills to coexist as it is, and it pays off in spades should we rely exclusively on each other. It goes last mentioned in any list I tend to see hitting mainstream when it comes to long term survival plans, though it is peaking its way through the clouds of gear and overpriced seeds or seminars.

Something I'd love to utilize this website for, perhaps even somewhat selfishly, is to help curate a community of people I'd trust if things went sideways. Being so close to Portland, I'm deep behind a majority groupthink and it doesn't agree with me, nor do I with it. Long gone and missed are the days when we could agree and disagree. Friends become an easy delineation from acquaintances. Given at least the circumstances I exist in, leaving isn't something I can achieve either in a hurry or wisely. So how do I ensure that I don't, or we don't find ourselves alone or alienated?

I have a lot I can offer for someone my age, being relatively young. I'm a maintenance worker and have done a lot (A LOT) in that field. I want to learn to hunt and hone my foraging skills. My fiancé and I are shooters and enjoy guns, though I think I do perhaps more than she does despite her acute aim. Politically I'm of a live and let live variety, but I'm ultimately a constitutionalist. Freedom is paramount, for all of us. Shall not be infringed leaves no room for error, but apparently we need "common sense" applied to it.

Common sense to me is reaching out here and putting myself both open and available. I can't have a community unless I'm willing to put in first. You get what you give, and the rest comes naturally in my experience.

We're about to enter an excellent foraging season and I'd love to meet others to learn with. There's a lot of skills I and my fiancé are interested in like homesteading and farming, or even learning how to more appropriately garden for our own food.

We're both keen on self defense and I believe that outside perspective is key to progressing yourself if you want to grow. I can do all the dry runs I want in my tiny apartment, and get down to a subsecond draw from concealment, but if I don't have another like minded person to work with I can't grow past a certain point.

I want to find myself a community. I find it is difficult in my general area given the topics at hand, but I think this could be a good spot for myself to try and hone some of that in for what I enjoy from here. Or hell, let this be a pivot for others.

It isn't about politics, it's about community. I fear it's something we're watching deteriorate before our eyes and I'm unsure how to get back into a healthy one nowadays.

You've stated a lot of similar thoughts I've had... trusting people is difficult though.

I continually practice my outdoor skills, camping in remote areas, learning to fish, and hunt. I really enjoy the outdoors, but see it as gaining knowledge for "just in case". On that note, if there is a big collapse, the majority of people have no idea what it takes to grow or hunt for food. That will be an interesting watch.

I am also lucky to be mechanically and electrically inclined, as I have been curious about how things work since I was young... taking apart things and putting them back together, usually correctly lol. I rebuilt my first engine at 17 and have lost count of how many cars and engines I've built since.

As @Longwalkhome said, adaptability is the greatest skill in all aspects of life. Going to have to roll with the changes, and those changes seem like they're already happening.

-Robert

 

[Cosmoline]

You've stated a lot of similar thoughts I've had... trusting people is difficult though.

-Robert

It is, and even recently I've been burned by thinking I knew someone when I didn't. I was helping a friend of mine I met through HAM and assisting with her home repairs. When I declined a job she flipped out on me, and I took note of that. Not to mention, you never know if someone will remember what you have if things go sideways and they roll up on your place unannounced. My grandfather really hammered that one in.

 

[Defense Minister]

I've tried and tried to form a group of like-minded people, if for no other reason than to cooperate should the Cascadia earthquake event occur, and my experience is that people are VERY reluctant to trust and work together with others beyond what is necessary to meet their own immediate needs, even those who share commonalities as meaningful as spiritual faith... At this point, I've given up.

 

[oremike]

Over the years, I've learned to trust and like myself. I've tried to be part of groups and things but in the end I'm just not a joiner. People have been letting me down all my life. They die, move or fade away. I am social, and have skills I don't mind sharing but don't ask me to be part of your secret handshake club, I'll just take care of myself, thank you, as I always have. This is not directed at the OP I'm just stating my philosophy of life.

 

[JackFrost]

People are incredibly self centered, egomaniacal and narcissistic as stated previously! Most people (even preppers) are so wrapped up in themselves they are nauseating to be around.
My wife and I tried joining several of these types of group's years ago because we were thinking the exact same things the OP is addressing, but sadly they are a gigantic waste of time. Everybody has their own opinion, everybody wants to be a "leader", everyone is an "expert" at something, nobody has quality gear, they get excited about walking around with cheap Baefong radios and talking to each other. It's like a family camp version of larping, fracking stupid and childish.
I know not everyone is like this and I'm sure there are some great groups of like minded people out there but in our experience it was the opposite and we couldn't distance ourselves fast enough.
It's always been the 2 of us and we are no experts by any means, but we work hard and have the knowledge of "living off the land" so to speak and feel that we are much better off by ourselves than continuing to try and find like minded people who actually get along and have the same goals, skills, drive, attitude etc that we do. Good luck @Cosmoline I hope you find some people, they are Worth their weight in gold if you can!

 

[TacticalPinky]

This feels like a too good to be true situation. I trust about five people in life or death situations. When SHTF the reality of the situation is we're gonna lose contact with most people and traveling even short distances will become either very difficult or dangerous. That's not even considering a mix of natural disaster and societal unrest. This sounds like something nice during peace time, but not realistic during conflict. At least not for awhile. There will be hundreds if not thousands of small splinter militia groups all looking out for their families, which just makes you a target as someone that may be prepared in both weapons and supplies. I'd be careful who you get in contact with and open up about where you are and what you have, certainly never people over the internet, no offense, but only people I've know for years in person would even be considered for such a community. It's easy to pretend to have same beliefs.