Survival Skills

Please understand that I will not be participating in the apocalypse.

There was a surreal period between the election last November and the inauguration in January, where things appeared to be normal on the surface, but if you looked deeper you could see the change in current slowly beginning to rise to the top.

We are now six (seven?) weeks in and it’s impossible to deny that life in the United States is forever changed. My morbid fascination watching the entire class fail the civics exam is coated with a thick layer of dread. Like a lot of us, I turn to social media and independent news sources both to keep up with the absurd and the dangerous, and the glimmers of hope that refuse to be silenced. I’m ashamed of half of us and inspired by the other half.

Whether it’s helpful, or a waste of time remains to be seen, but my social media feed contains a lot of advice about how to address the new challenges a lot of us will face. Food shopping and cooking on a budget is a helpful trend. I don’t plan to make Amish grape jelly, but the dollar store lentil and potato burrito recipe is close enough to a samosa for me to give that concept a try.

It also shows me a fair amount of information about what to buy in bulk and how to store it. I don’t really want to think about the creepy-crawlies that might be in the bag of flour I bought yesterday but knowing that I can take care of that problem by putting the bag in the freezer is helpful information.

A lot of this advice is already a part of my life. I’ve lived near the Gulf of Mexico for over 35 years and have a dedicated store of disaster supplies because hurricanes are no joke. The canned goods, crackers, and bottled water are consumed after hurricane season ends and replenished the following spring.

But if I click on too many of these videos, I begin to see survival type information. Which MRE’s are the best. The need for a bug-out bag, and books written by military survivalists. There’s a big push for short wave walkie-talkies, and solar phone chargers. I’ve learned about water straws. This is the sort of information that would be necessary in the most desperate of circumstances.

Thinking about desperate circumstances scared me enough to keep me awake at night until I realized that I have zero desire to survive the predicted apocalypse, or any apocalypse for that matter, and I don’t have to. It’s not required, and this knowledge is quite freeing.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did buy a short-wave radio receiver before I came to my senses, but in my defense, it’s a legitimate item for my hurricane supply kit and it’s fun to see what can be found on the airwaves.

I live in a condo and don’t have the space to keep a decade’s worth of food. I don’t want to eat beans and rice, cooked over a camping stove, for the rest of my life. I don’t like spam, and just the thought of eating tuna is enough for me to volunteer as Tribute (I’ll be the first one down then too, just so you know).

The hordes of looters don’t need to break down my door because I’ll put it all right out front. Help yourself. If it becomes necessary for me to use a water straw to drink from a muddy, stagnant puddle, I’m out.  My survival instinct isn’t just not strong enough… it’s nonexistent and I’m perfectly fine with that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you would like to know more about my ancestral connection work, my Daoist path, or my other offerings such as tarot readings and classes, spiritual guidance, and mindset mentoring, you can find more detailed information by using the drop-down menu on my website:  https://tea-in-the-parlour.ghost.io/

This coming June, I’m presenting a workshop for the Tarot Association of British and International members (TABI). The topic is: Tarot Conversations, Eavesdropping on the Cards. The fee is very reasonable, at less than $10, and the workshop will be recorded if you can’t attend the live session. More information will be posted on the TABI website soon.

You can also contact me via email at themysticsparlour@gmail.com and I’m @teaintheparlour on Bluesky.

Your continued support and encouragement are greatly appreciated.