Is Prepping Depressing? 5 Ways To Cope

Ranger Man
The Survival Mom

Prepping is different from other pursuits in that it can easily lead to burnout. People that correctly identify the need to take reasonable preparations do so out of a recognition that modern society operates on a very fragile social structure, that there are serious economic or environmental concerns that could impact one’s quality of life, or a variety of other legitimate concerns. People new to prepping are particularly vulnerable to prepper burnout. Before long, you find yourself focused solely on negative, doom-is-imminent news articles. The apocalypse begins to seem like it’s right around the corner. You start purchasing extra food and equipment and begin to think that’s prepping is too expensive, and you’re so far behind where you want to be that it may not even be worth prepping at all.

Prepping burnout happened to me, at one point leading to a year long break from my survival blog. I was beginning to see the world through an apocalyptic lens, seeing only the doom and gloom in the evening news, wondering what the future would hold for my children, and feeling frustrated that if the SHTF tomorrow, my family and I would be in trouble because we were far from ready.

Before long, things like tending the garden became less of an outdoor, leisurely activity that produces good tasting quality food to one that focused on high calorie crops and continual garden expansion to allow for more food production (and consequently more work). What started as a hobby quickly became a chore. Prepping as a pursuit became an unfulfilling burden.

Five tips to avoid Prepper Burnout

I learned a few things from that experience that I now offer as suggestions for any of you that may be on the verge of prepper burnout.

1. Take a break. This may sound obvious, but if you’re in an anxiety induced prepping frenzy, it’s not obvious. Taking a break when doom is everywhere and your preps are close to nowhere doesn’t pass the logic test. But if taking a break until the doom clouds lift and you’re able to see more clearly, more positively, taking a break makes perfect sense. A break may mean the difference between committing to a long-term, slow, incremental preparedness track that you make progress on and crashing and burning because you went too fast with too much.

2. There are two sides to any story. While there is plenty of bad news that could lead you to think all social order is on the verge of collapse, there are plenty of news articles that support just the opposite idea, that people are good at their core and when disaster strikes, people come together. Find a balance in the news you read.

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January 26, 2012

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