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Practicing Spiritual and Emotional Self Sufficiency in Times of Crisis

How to Practice Spiritual Self Sufficiency

Practicing Spiritual and Emotional Self Sufficiency in Times of Crisis
Practicing Spiritual and Emotional Self Sufficiency in Times of Crisis

Last week, I wrote here about the Frugal Farmer’s Three Rules of Self Sufficiency. From here we plan on breaking down each rule and talking about it more in depth. Today we’ll talk about how to practice spiritual self sufficiency.

Spiritual self sufficiency encompasses both “spiritual” and “emotional” self sufficiency. Many people ignore this vital key to preparedness. They do well in focusing on the physical and financial aspects of preparedness and self sufficiency, but neglect to take into consideration the emotional/spiritual preparedness needed to manage through a SHTF scenario.

The fact of the matter is is that in a SHTF scenario, all the preparedness in the world will do a person little good if they can’t keep their head on straight and manage the crisis from an emotional standpoint.

Whenever we see a SHTF scenario on TV, it’s the panic in people that causes riots, violence and death. The people panic because they don’t know what to do, because they have no plan, and because they feel out of control.

Recommended Reading: Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century

Friends, people often don’t understand that feelings are fickle and not to be trusted. Feelings can change with the wind – they should never be a gauge for how you act, for the behavior you choose.  Ever wonder how you can love your spouse one minute and hate his/her guts the next? It’s because feelings and emotions are fickle. They are not to be trusted. This is why women with PMS (and I am a woman, so I can say this 🙂 ) are considered “crazy” even though their feelings are very real to them. Their hormones often make their emotions erratic and unpredictable.

Here are some keys for a) making your emotions manageable with spiritual self sufficiency and b) learning how to functions when your emotions are feeling out of control.

Using Spiritual Self Sufficiency to Manage/Control Your Emotions

  • Get into the habit of eating well.  Most people – even many preppers – don’t like to hear this, but eating well makes a BIG impact on your ability to think clearly in a crisis situation. Sticking to whole foods like fresh fruits and veggies and brown rice, and avoiding sugar, white flour, processed foods and alcohol enhances your ability to process information and to make wise decisions. It also gives you increased energy and strength for the many chores needed to be done to live a self sufficient lifestyle. Being self sufficient is hard to do when you’re lethargic, sluggish, tired and cranky. Choose to take the higher road and start getting into the habit of eating well. The benefits will FAR outweigh the “sacrifices”.
  • Make it a habit to engage in healthy spiritual practices. This will likely look different for everyone. Some work with yoga and meditation. Some use positive affirmations. For our family, a solid and healthy relationship with Jesus Christ brings an abundance of spiritual self control to our family. When we spend our time studying the Bible, praying and having fellowship with Christ as opposed to watching crap on TV and reading unhealthy, dramatic books, we find ourselves MUCH more in control of our emotions, and better able to keep fear and panic at arm’s length. When it comes to spiritual self sufficiency, you are what you eat/read/see. Surround yourself with drama and trauma, you’ll have a drama and trauma mindset. Surround yourself with positive messages that teach you to overcome challenges, and you’ll have an overcomer’s mindset.
  • Choose to educate yourself. People fear what they don’t know. If something scares you, choose to educate yourself on the facts about that subject. If you fear a particular SHTF scenario, choose to educate yourself on how to be prepared for that type of a situation. If having a heart attack scares you, choose to educate yourself on how to minimize your risk for having a heart attack via appropriate eating, exercising and lifestyle habits. By choosing to educate yourself on the things that bring fear to your mind, you can mentally prepare yourself to either avoid having to handle them, or you can be prepared to handle them well should they come anyway.
  • Accept that you cannot control everything. As preppers, we pride ourselves on having our crap together and doing what we need to do to be prepared for a myriad of situations. But even the most prepared of self-sufficiency experts cannot control everything.  Choose to control what you can control, and choose to let the rest go. Stressing out over things that you have absolutely no control over is a waste of time and emotion and leads to unnecessary and damaging fear and stress.

Healthy emotional and spiritual self sufficiency are a vital part of any successful prepping plan. Don’t ignore this crucial means to surviving a SHTF scenario.

15 comments

  1. Emotions are tricky. On the one hand, they are, as you say, fickle. On the other hand, I don’t like it when people say things like “Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine,” when that’s clearly not true. There has to be a balance that allows us not to be controlled by our emotions – and yet able to express them honestly (even when they aren’t admirable). So true that physical and financial strength will not be enough when spiritual strength is needed.

    • Laurie says:

      I definitely agree, Prudence. Pretending our emotions don’t exist is dangerous and unhealthy. We need to acknowledge them, but yet understand where our true help, support and strength is from (in our case, Jesus) knowing that it will carry us through.

  2. This is an extreme example, but I’m so impressed by those who were killed by ISIS for being Christians. They look so calm in the propaganda video. They simply had zero control over their scenario, but their security was in something greater than their life in this world. I want THAT kind of peace and confidence, because the things I’m dealing with are nothing compared to what they experienced.

    • Laurie says:

      DC, that’s a perfect example!!!!! So much of it is about perspective and knowing and understanding the “big picture” reality as opposed to the “small picture” reality. You sound like you understand perfectly. 🙂

  3. What a great post. I´ve been kind of all over the place, emotionally, lately. This job hunt/uncertainty really has me by the reigns. But instead of trying to suppress my feelings, I let them come, and I recognize what I´m feeling and why, and then try to realize what effects that´s having on the rest of my life. It´s a difficult exercise, to zoom out of your own life like that, but rewarding, I think.

    • Laurie says:

      Chela, you’re doing great! By analyzing our feelings instead of letting them control us, we can gain victory and learn how to move forward. Great work!

    • Laurie says:

      Jayson, you are wiser because of your commitment to educating yourself on a regular basis. Education doesn’t stop once we leave high school or college – at least, it doesn’t have to. Committing to educating ourselves always means a broader scope of skills, knowledge and wisdom. Great work, my friend, on the smart attitude!

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