Prepping is a great way to deal with fear and anxiety. You prepare to keep the future looking rosy. You can be ready to go when emergencies happen. You can be ready to ride out financial situations. Prepping has many benefits that can be a game-changer for anyone’s life.

However, you can get overwhelmed with prepping very quickly. You can immediately be swamped with information overload. You can experience much doubt because someone in the prepper community will always tell you what is wrong with your preps. You can feel like you are behind before you even get started.

This is not good when being prepared is the best thing you can do for yourself. Feeling overwhelmed is natural, but you need to keep pushing on. I have a few suggestions that work for me and that I want to offer to help with those feelings.

First of all, take a deep breath. I truly believe in the power of meditation. I find that if I take a few minutes to close my eyes, slow my breathing, and clear my mind, I can ‘reset’ my emotions. It’s easy to panic and think you need to do all the prepping things. By taking a few minutes to reset, you can start to think again logically. If that doesn’t work for you, go for a walk or do something that will reset you.

If you are overwhelmed, stop and look at your goals and plans. They may be the cause of your overwhelm. They may be too big or too ambitious. How can you break them into smaller, more manageable, and easily attainable goals? Once you have your goals and plans broken down into more manageable bites, create a plan of action. You will be less overwhelmed and have a plan to direct you.

Often, we are not overwhelmed so much by prepping as we are by the extra things we purchase to be prepared. You can easily get disorganized and cluttered which definitely affects your mind. By taking some time to clean, organize, and declutter, you will have your preps where you want them. You will be able to see and find everything you need, which will positively impact your mind.

We can think that we are behind before we even get started prepping. That is sad because everyone is in a different place. Too many new preppers get discouraged because experienced preppers can be jerks and tell newbies that they will never be ready if they are just starting now. So newer preppers think they have go into warp speed to get prepared. Stop! You don’t have to do anything. Everyone is on their own journey in prepping. Unless a hurricane is coming at you, you have time to prepare. Stick to your plan and take yourself out of hyperdrive. You will seriously trip yourself up if you try to keep up with the experienced preppers. 

On the flip side, if you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed, find a group of non-judgmental preppers to help you. There are several good groups out there to help you with problems and encourage you on your journey. I am particularly fond of this group and this group for their positive information and feedback.

Sometimes you need more than just a quick break from prepping. You may need a camping trip, a vacation, or just time away from prepping. You may need to lose yourself in a good book, work on your hobbies, or partake in a favorite pastime for a few days. You will be amazed how much it helps clear your mind and refreshes you to start prepping again. You might learn some new things that will help you be a better prepper too.

If you feel overwhelmed and need to focus on being better prepared, I wrote a book called The Prepper’s Yearbook that guides you through a year’s worth of prepping tasks. You can go through the five tasks a month as well as the bonus tasks for each month. 

What do you do when you are overwhelmed with prepping?

Thanks for reading, 
Erica

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