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I ask this because I am trying to figure out how to 'reach' people in my life. In general our culture is not geared towards prepping, so how is it that everyone on this forum came to that way of life? I figure maybe if others share how they came to be preppers, there will be a kernel of an idea that will help me reach folks in my life - most notably my DH.
For myself, it started when I'd just moved to Colorado and overheard some comment on the news about getting a 'car kit' together with items to survive getting stranded in a snowstorm on a mountain pass. I put a car kit together, and within a couple of years gave everyone in my family car kits for Christmas. That was the beginning of them thinking I was nuts...
Then more recently - we went without power for a week due to a wind storm, and six months later my DH lost his job and we lived off the bulk food stored in the house (we bought in bulk to save money, not to prep). Then, when we moved into our new home, I've been literally compelled to prep. I didn't just want fruit trees, I HAD to have them, so that we could can/dry food to put away. I planted English walnut trees so that we would have a source of protein in a pinch (when they start producing in about 4 more years) - my DH doesn't understand why I think that way. In the past six months I've learned how to can and dry food, I've started learning about water collection...
DH is into the self-sufficiency concept - and he's all about saving $ so anything we can learn to do ourselves is great. But when $ is so tight, it's hard for him to understand why I want to build up an even bigger food supply or why I'd want to spend money on #10 cans of freeze-dried food. he thinks I've gone over the top. And I understand that, I really do - because his environment doesn't tell him we need to prepare. We share the same environment/culture, yet I feel the need to prep literally imprinted on my heart. I feel driven. But I can't make him 'feel' that same drive - I have to figure out an experiential way to reach him.
So how did you all come to be preppers? And is there anyone else out there that 'converted' a spouse to prepping?
For myself, it started when I'd just moved to Colorado and overheard some comment on the news about getting a 'car kit' together with items to survive getting stranded in a snowstorm on a mountain pass. I put a car kit together, and within a couple of years gave everyone in my family car kits for Christmas. That was the beginning of them thinking I was nuts...
Then more recently - we went without power for a week due to a wind storm, and six months later my DH lost his job and we lived off the bulk food stored in the house (we bought in bulk to save money, not to prep). Then, when we moved into our new home, I've been literally compelled to prep. I didn't just want fruit trees, I HAD to have them, so that we could can/dry food to put away. I planted English walnut trees so that we would have a source of protein in a pinch (when they start producing in about 4 more years) - my DH doesn't understand why I think that way. In the past six months I've learned how to can and dry food, I've started learning about water collection...
DH is into the self-sufficiency concept - and he's all about saving $ so anything we can learn to do ourselves is great. But when $ is so tight, it's hard for him to understand why I want to build up an even bigger food supply or why I'd want to spend money on #10 cans of freeze-dried food. he thinks I've gone over the top. And I understand that, I really do - because his environment doesn't tell him we need to prepare. We share the same environment/culture, yet I feel the need to prep literally imprinted on my heart. I feel driven. But I can't make him 'feel' that same drive - I have to figure out an experiential way to reach him.
So how did you all come to be preppers? And is there anyone else out there that 'converted' a spouse to prepping?