2024 is in the books and here’s to an organized, productive, and successful 2025. I’ve been living my life like a leaf on the wind since about forever. I rarely have a detailed plan and do OK. This has always worked, but it’s always pained me quite a bit. There’s this internal…need…to be more deliberate in how I live. I wan’t 2025 to be the year that I build a foundation for that organization.
I’m in my late 50s now. Doing ‘OK’ isn’t quite cutting it the way it used to. Health is suffering as I tend to neglect it. It always used to take care of itself. Probably my biggest lesson learned in 2024 is that my body isn’t 20 and healing takes a long time. A long, long time. I know better, but doing what I should before doing what I want isn’t a strong suit for me. So, I think I’m going to make planning and executing those plans a goal for the year. I’m hoping that it will also produce gains in overall quality of life as I won’t be spending the extra energy that comes with improvisation.
Don’t get me wrong. Improvisation is a valuable skill. Especially when it comes to preparedness. You fight the battle with the army you have, not the army you want. But you need to plan for the army you want.
A few years back, I started breaking my preparations into a few broad-based categories. I list them here in the order of their priority. The priorities are loosely based upon the Rule of Threes. I’ll try to write up an explanation of that for any newcomers to the community. Regardless here is my prioritized list of preparation categories:
- Health
- Air Quality
- Water
- Shelter
- Food
- Power and Fuel
- Communications
- Skills
Of course, we need to be a bit fluid with the prioritization scheme. If it’s -20.0 outside, shelter is probably more important than water until you find some shelter, but I think you get the idea. Regardless, balance is critical. Even though I’ve placed health at the top of my list, I have tended to focus on trauma supplies, herbal treatments, and learning medical techniques. I’ve greatly neglected my body’s health.
So here’s to correcting that in 2025! May you have a productive and prepared new year.