What If…

The other day (actually it was in the middle of the night) the power went off in our house. It was very strange. My wife and I both woke up immediately around 3am when it happened. I’m sure you’ve gone through this at some point in your life.

It’s fairly normal.

We woke up and realized we didn’t have a flashlight that worked (the battery ran out), we didn’t have a phone, computer or anything that worked. We didn’t even have a hand held radio to get updates on the radio. The first thing that went through my mind was the food in our refrigerator, we had meat, raw milk, veggies and all kinds of things that could spoil.

I looked out the window and realized the entire city was black. Wow. It wasn’t just us, it was the entire city. It’s really quite a strange feeling when you realize that one small thing like the power going out could cripple us. I was just praying the energy and power would be switched back on and the problem solved. Turns out our prayers were answered and in about a half hour all the power came back on. The streets were no longer dark. Wheew.

For others of us, it’s not that easy. There are people in the Midwest who get devastated by tornadoes. Where I live we could crumble if there were a natural disaster like an earthquake. Then there’s the tsunami a few years back that happened in Thailand that destroyed their entire coastland. The point is, we’re all just one natural disaster away from having our entire lives taken from us.

Fun thought right?

The idea of being wiped out in a split second is not something I really like to spend much time thinking about. But instead of making the same mistake that we all made by trusting in “The Grid”, I think it’s very wise for us to figure out how we can live more sustainably.

Ask yourself some questions…

• Are you in debt? If so, how long until you’re out?
• If the dollar crashes do you have a backup like silver or gold tangibles?
• How long could you live without food, water or gas?
• Do you have a way of protecting yourself in the event of a crisis?
• Do you have connections with others in your area who do have some of these things?
• Could you live without the use of a car?
• If all the electricity got turned off right now, what would you do?
• If you lost your job would you be sinking fast?

These questions aren’t designed to make you feel guilty or even live in a state of fear. These are questions I have to say, I’m not prepared to answer right now either.

We shouldn’t live in fear, neither should we live in naivety. But we should have an insurance plan to maintain the day-to-day aspects of life. We have a health insurance plan (I don’t mean a medical one where you pay sky high insurance rates each month) in the form of eating the right organic whole fresh foods right? This insures us that we stay strong, healthy and vibrant in the face of colds, flu’s and diseases. Remember the swine flu? All the people I know who follow healthy living don’t get sick.

We have a financial insurance plan. We save money each month for retirement. At least we should be. Lots of us perhaps tithe 10% and give that to God. If you don’t tithe perhaps you set some money aside and help people. Many of us save a certain percentage each month for a rainy day or retirement. And these are all good things to do. We’re just idiots if we don’t plan for the future.

But why don’t we have an overall life insurance plan?

There are a few reasons for this.

1. We’re too busy
2. We don’t know where to start
3. We trust in the reliability of the current infrastructure

We’re too busy

Many of us are busy with kids, working full time, paying our bills, going to school etc. Life is busy and life is hectic, there’s no doubt. At then end of a hectic day, the last thing we’d like to do is figure out how to rely a little less on the infrastructure for basic necessities.

We don’t know where to start

We might have the desire and even the time to start thinking about how to live more sustainably. But there’s so much to think about and so many directions to follow. All this information becomes almost overwhelming so we put it off for another day. There could come a day, where “that day” arrives and you’re stuck with no food and no water. What would you do then?

We trust that the infrastructure is safe and reliable

Many of us mistakenly think that the power grid will never go out. Perhaps that is the case. But we can never account for natural disasters. I don’t think the grid is without major flaws and needs to be upgraded. These two factors alone (the grid being unstable and outdated, along with the chance for natural disasters) are enough to start taking a long hard look at how we take care of our families and home.

The media would like us to think that everything is fine and safe, when in reality it’s not.

What should we do and where should we start?

The number one thing in my opinion to focus on is putting all your energy into getting out of debt. Take an extra job, figure out how much money per month you can set aside for this debt, then create an automatic payment plan and forget about it. It’s important to not focus on debt by dwelling on it, talking about it and thinking about it. This only creates stress and poor health.

Do what you can do get out from under that stress.

Then focus on using that debt money to buy assets like real money in the form of gold. Buy assets like garden soil and seeds to start growing your own food. There are many other things you can do to start the process of being more self reliant but these two are a great start.

If we have too many ideas, plans and goals, we don’t know where to start. Focus on these two for now.

Once you get to the point of having extra money, you could then start buying gold and silver. After you free yourself from debt, the world opens up to you.

If we can constantly remember that life is fragile and unforeseen circumstances can happen, we can be prepared from a financial perspective but also from a life perspective.

What if there was a natural disaster and your local grocery store ran out of food?

What if gas prices got so high you had to quite your job?

What if you got laid off?

What if the power grid went out for 6 months?

What would you do?