Many folks, especially newbies, express a sense of being overwhelmed as they contemplate all of the many decisions they must make and the many things they have to learn.

When I hit that first roadblock in my preparations, I began to realiuze that this is where community relationships and structure for sharing becomes a key.

If you are not already a self-sufficient, then there are so many things to learn that you must accept the fact that the process of becoming self-sufficient is going to be one that continues way past Y2K. The best thing that yu can do is handle the BIG stuff:

WHERE YOU LIVE HOW YOU WILL GET WATER HOW YOU WILL EAT HOW YOU WILL COOK HOW YOU WILL STAY WARM (IF YOU ARE IN A COLD CLIMATE) HOW YOU WILL PROTECT YOURSELF HOW YOU WILL HANDLE MEDICAL EMERGENCIES

Then, put the rest of your energy into organizing your town, your neighborhood and your family to meet the challenges ahead... AS A COMMUNITY.

This preparation is psychological, and perhaps the most vital.

SHARE. Old Sam grows a large amount of tomatoes and his wife cans them every year. That's a resource. Dr. Jones lives two doors away, and is stockpiling a certain amount of medical supplies, because he can. The list of individual resources is taken note of at a neighborhood meeting, and then everyone can see where the gaps are. Then, the community can decide how to obtain these resources.

Set up foraging teams, a water crew, medical emergency back-up folks, etc.

Don't be overwhelmed, be in communication and action with others. Soon, everyone will understand that this is necessary.

Wishing you all luck and aloha,

Sara

-- Sara Nealy (keithn@aloha.net), June 14, 1999

Answers

This is the complete post.

-- Sara Nealy (keithn@aloha.net), June 14, 1999.

I couldn't have said it better myself Sara, there are no "pat" answers, we all have to choose what we need to make our lives work. Zeda

-- Zeda (rickster@n-jcenter.com), June 14, 1999.