1MoreTip #2

Pace Yourself To Brace Yourself

With two kids, two jobs and a ton of volunteer work, my free time has been reduced to ten minutes on the toilet reading the newest Cheaper Than Dirt catalog. So adding anything else to my schedule (or budget) would be like riverdancing on a house of cards. When my wife and I meet new people who are interested in preparing for hardships or disasters, or just in becoming more self-sufficient, we often see a look of mixed panic, despair and frustration. Once people are aware of the need to change their habits of voracious consumerism and dependence, they become overwhelmed with the amount of work they feel they have to do. This is exactly what we are trying to help people ALLEVIATE!
I spent the first 14 years of my life eating whatever I wanted. At age 12 I clocked in at 247 pounds. Once I realized that this lifestyle needed to stop, I tried everything I could to fix it overnight. Deal A Meal, Jenny Craig, Slim Fast...you name it. What worked? A complete lifestyle change accomplished over a long period of time. By age 19 I had dropped 90 pounds of fat, gained muscle and cured myself of asthma. Point: you spent your entire life getting used to being dependent on the system, so take it easy on yourself as you learn to do things a little differently.
Example: one of the greatest tragedies of our time is debt, personal and national. If you find yourself finally wanted to get rid of your lifestyle of debt, it's gonna take some time. My wife and I follow Dave Ramsey's plan, but there are a lot out there that work for a lot of people (Crown Financial, Good Sense, etc). Three years ago a credit counselor told my wife and I that our only options were bankruptcy or extra jobs. Already working full-time and not wanting to stiff my already po'd creditors, I decided to take it slow and figure out a better way. SO, like I changed my body, I found a system that slowly changed my habits and chipped away at my debt. We ended up paying off ten credit cards and loans in 16 months (over $12,000) without making a single extra dime, and without filing bankruptcy.
Moral: keep working hard, but give yourself grace. If food storage is your thing, pace yuourself and put away what you can when you can. If debt elimination is your priority, find a system that works and stick with it over time. If gardening is what your passionate about, Don't plant more than you can manage at first. Start with a couple boxes, or even just a couple containers and increase each year. The goal here is to readjust your mindset, gain skills, and LEARN TOGETHER.