Do it yourself skills

Do-it-yourself skills are on their way out for many people, who prefer to have someone else do the dirty work. This has a direct effect on our collective ability to survive disasters.

A large part of survival is the ability to take charge of the situation and do what needs to be done in order to make it through another day. Often this is as simple as knowing how change the flat tire on a vehicle, or do some basic repairs to gear you are depending on. Like sharpening a survival knife, cleaning a rifle, or making a survival kit.

Every day we are losing touch with do it yourself skills, preferring instead to specialize completely into the one small thing from which we make a living. All that other stuff we can pay someone else to do.

When times are good your computer skills, or if you are flipping burgers your ability to churn ‘em out in numbers, may seem like the ticket to a good life. But should TSHTF you are going to find you cannot eat CD’s and your free fast food supply is nowhere to be found.

But it goes beyond that. Simply doing as many things as possible yourself – from plumbing to electrical to car repairs, gardening, and even fishing to putting some protein on the table – will give you a wide array of skill sets and problem solving skills no school can ever teach you.

When things go bad and a large scale survival situation occurs you are going to be in a much better position to survive if you are somewhat of a jack of all trades.

Emergency preparedness is usually pretty much a do it yourself skill if done right. Of course there are those who think all they have to do is pay for someone else to put together a survival kit or year’s supply of food, and they have got it made. Rest assured this way of thinking will serve them ill should they suddenly need this survival gear, possibly of dubious quality, without having the proper training and experience to use it.