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A while back, I asked the Mind4Survival community to hit me with their biggest SHTF questions. These are the real concerns people have about what happens when systems fail and the normal rules don’t apply. These are my answers to the questions people asked about their real-world SHTF concerns. No fluff. Just practical insight based on my experience and understanding.
And, because this is based on my perspective, I want to be challenged by your perspective. So, as I go through these questions, please think about how you’d respond to the question, and let me know in the comments below. Now, let’s get into the first question.
TL;DR: Real answers to real SHTF preparedness questions—from security and water to mindset and group dynamics. Practical, no-fluff advice that works.
Quick Look at What You’ll Learn
1. Community and Security
When things go bad, people band together—or they fall apart. Community is one of the biggest force multipliers in a long-term crisis. But it only works if that community is secure, dependable, and supports people’s needs. These questions focus on how to protect your group while staying functional and smart about who you trust.
Q: How does a community survive and stay secure, but still allow for trade and travelers?
The answer is layered security, clear protocols, and controlled access. Communities that make it long-term know exactly who gets in, why they’re let in, and how they’re monitored. That doesn’t mean being cruel — it means being smart. Have rules, enforce them consistently, and don’t compromise your safety in the name of being nice.
The 5Ds of security: deter, detect, deny, delay, and defend — these are what keep you safe.
Deter: You want your community and its approach to security to deter anyone from targeting you and your fellow community members. The harder the target appears, the less likely someone is to attempt something.
Detect: You have to detect a problem to deal with it. That means noticing a person and whether they have the capability to cause problems if they gain access to your community. Think of it like going into a courthouse. Everyone is getting physically and/or technically searched on the way in.
Deny & Delay: Think of ways to keep a threat from being able to cause harm, or slow it down? Think of features like walls, fencing, etc., around your community, individual homes, and places of importance—including areas where people gather. If someone has to climb a fence, go through a checkpoint, etc., that at a minimum is slowing them down and hopefully stopping them, which gives you and yours more time to effectively identify and deal with the threat that’s targeting you.
Defend: Have a plan ready to go in case the first four Ds of security fail to stop the problem. Everybody needs to practice this plan and have a good understanding of who is supposed to do what, where they’re supposed to do it, and when. Not having a well-thought-out and rehearsed plan is a recipe for disaster and serious harm to your community.
Q: Should new arrivals be isolated?
Yes — and history proves why. Disease, instability, and hidden agendas are real threats. Isolation isn’t punishment. It’s good common sense. The process of allowing newcomers into your community needs to be well-thought-out, thorough, and enforced equally for everyone. If it’s not, you run an increased risk of a problem slipping through. Trust builds over time, not in the first handshake.
2. Supplies, Food, and Water
When people think about prepping, food and water are usually at the top of most people’s list—and for good reason. Without them, you’re done. Supplies are what buy you time, space, and options during a crisis. Having the needed resources stocked up and ready to go means you won’t have to rely on hope, luck, and others to feed you and your loved ones.
Q: What’s the best way to store water long-term?
There isn’t one perfect answer. It’s about trade-offs. Small containers are easier to rotate and stash in apartments. Large tanks and rain catchment are great for rural preppers. Aim for redundancy with a P.A.C.E. plan based on your specific needs. Consider redundancies for the following:
- Stored drinking water on hand
- Sources to replenish stored drinking water
- Methods of gathering, transporting, and storing water
- Ways to filter and purify the water you gather
⚠️ Pro TipDon’t keep all your supplies in one spot. Spread them out across different rooms, containers, and even locations if possible. That way, if one stash gets compromised—flooded, stolen, burned—you haven’t lost everything.
Q: How much food is enough?
Your risk defines how much food you should keep on hand. An easy way to think about how much food is enough for an SHTF, without doing a risk assessment, is to think of it as three levels.
- Level 1: 3-7 days for immediate emergencies.
- Level 2: 7-14 days for non-cataclysmic disruptions.
- Level 3: 30+ days (if possible) for major SHTF.
Don’t forget to plan a reserve for trade and situational needs. When people go hungry, food becomes currency. Likewise, when it hits the fan, situations arise that could impact your food supply. Maybe mice get into it. A roof leak or fire happens. Someone shows up who you can’t say no to. Planning for and having a reserve gives you options.
Q: What about old-school preservation methods?
Our ancestors weren’t dumb. Smoking meats, building root cellars, fermenting vegetables, and canning kept families alive long before freezers and Amazon deliveries. Learn one skill at a time. Practice as you expand your food supplies.
3. Risk and Mindset
A lot of people start prepping with gear and supplies, which is great to buy yourself time. But in a real SHTF event, your mindset and how you manage risk will play a massive role in your survival. This section covers questions that focus on thinking ahead, staying focused, and staying composed when things start falling apart.
Q: How do I plan without getting hyper-focused on one area?
Use risk management. List your assets (family, home, food, water, vehicles, etc.). Then ask four questions: What are the things that can harm each asset? Those are your threats. What do you have to protect those assets with—aka your preps. And what’s the impact if an asset is lost or damaged? This framework helps you focus time, money, and other resources where they matter most.
Q: What’s the biggest SHTF threat?
The truth? It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a pandemic, EMP, or unrest, the fundamentals don’t change. Stock food and water. Build skills. Strengthen your mindset. If you’re resilient, and bad luck doesn’t drop the heart of the SHTF event on your head, then you have options. That’s what preparedness is: it’s about creating space between you and the problem overwhelming you—making you a victim of the event.
Q: How do I build a resilient mindset?
Mindset isn’t magic. It’s personal mental training. It’s about working to recognize your weaknesses and doing what you can to improve them. Sure, we can think about SHTF, what-if scenarios, that’s great.
And are you trying to learn how to calm yourself when stressed out by a situation? If you want to practice, work on not being PO’d after someone says something that irritates you. That practice helps you learn how to get control of a sympathetic fight, flight, or freeze response—because that’s what being POd is.
You build mental resilience by:
- Asking yourself what-if questions ahead of time to more effectively implement the tactics and strategy of surviving an SHTF event.
- Actively working to learn how to manage your emotions when under stress, because stress and SHTF events are inseparable.
4. Medical and Special Situations
Medical issues don’t go away just because everything else falls apart. In fact, exacerbated by the stress and conditions, they often get worse. Little problems can become big problems really quickly in the pressure cooker of an SHTF event. And some problems—like running out of medicine or managing group dynamics—don’t have easy fixes. This section tackles questions that force us to think ahead, set expectations, and accept the hard truths that come with long-term survival situations.
Q: How do I handle medicines that will eventually run out?
This is one of the hardest realities. Stockpile what you can. Explore alternatives with a doctor, natural paths, nutritionists, etc. But also accept that there are limitations. If an SHTF event lasts long enough, you’re going to run out.
The sooner people accept that, the sooner they’ll stop worrying as much. I have a year, or more, of food stored. While I would like more, I only have so much time, money, and energy to dedicate to working and worrying about it. So, I don’t. Even if I only had seven days stored, I wouldn’t stress about it. I’d say, “Hey, when the opportunity presents itself, I’ll work on that.” Over time, it would improve. Unless you have Elon Musk’s resources, this doesn’t happen overnight—it’s a process.
So, do your best and try not to stress. That’s all we can do. Doing that is how we enjoy life, which is the purpose of all this being alive.
Q: How do I size up new members for my group?
Look beyond gear. Gear breaks. What matters most is alignment — mindset and core values. People can be trained. Skills can be taught. But if someone can’t mesh with the group or creates drama and conflict, they’re a liability, no matter how capable they are. In an already stressful situation, the last thing you need is someone who pulls the group down and apart instead of adding value. Choose for character first. Everything else can be built.
Q: What’s the single most important thing to remember if SHTF?
Control your mind. If panic rules, it can turn a bad situation worse. It’s going to be stressful in an SHTF event. Worrying about safety and security, family, food, and other concerns will cause you stress. If you care about people, you can’t NOT do that. So, focus on working towards a good mindset. When you feel stressed out, try to work on it. Learn coping mechanisms. Use the stress we have now, in our non-SHTF lives, to prep us to deal with the stress of our SHTF lives.
The Bottom Line
These questions came straight from you. And they show that people are thinking seriously about what SHTF might really look like—how people will act, how group dynamics play out, and how to manage things when the situation is crazy. If you’re asking these kinds of questions, you’re doing the right work.
Keep focusing on your mindset. Keep building your capability. And if you’ve got thoughts on any of this, share them. The more we think this stuff through together, the better off we all are.
Additional Resources
📌 Next StepsRead through the questions again and ask yourself how you’d respond in each situation. What would your plan be? What would you do differently? Share your thoughts in the comments. You might help someone else sharpen their thinking—and that’s what this community’s all about.
Read the full article here
