Fully Prepared

Fully prepared is the stage where preparedness becomes a lifestyle. Whether you grew up in a prepping family or built up to it over years, life at this stage runs on long term survival, sustainable living and self sufficiency. The focus shifts from surviving a disruption to sustaining a life through one, with a homestead or bug out location, a deep larder and practiced skills. It is also an elusive label. Most who wear it have simply been sufficiently prepared long enough that it feels earned.

Fully prepared is the most advanced stage of everyday preparedness. At this point prepping stops being a project and becomes a way of life. A sufficiently prepared family can ride out a disruption on stored supplies. A fully prepared family can produce, repair and replace. Their pantry is measured in months, their water does not depend on the municipal supply, and their skills are practiced rather than theoretical.

This stage matters to families who have been at it for years, whether they grew up in a prepping household or evolved into one. It also matters to anyone who has asked where they would go if SHTF. If you cannot name someone at this stage, it needs to be you. Each capability takes years to build, so this stage is earned slowly. Trusted neighbors, community and operational security become survival assets of their own.

Guides for the Fully Prepared

• Food: Grow it in a survival garden and put it by with food preservation.
• Water: Build a supply that does not depend on the tap with rainwater collection.
• Power: Keep the lights and the freezer running with backup power.
• Land: See why more families are choosing homesteading as a way of life.
• Security: Keep a well stocked homestead out of the spotlight with gray man habits.

Are any of us ever truly fully prepared? Most who claim the label have made peace with the threats beyond their control and settled into living the prepper life. For the few who look past collapse toward rebuilding, the next stage is New Civilization.