Being a prepper isn’t the most common lifestyle, despite how beneficial it would be. Often times, our spouse/partner/whatever you’re living with won’t agree with the interests and efforts that go with prepping. But that doesn’t mean you have to live in disharmony. There are things you can do to be prepared without pestering your partner.
We recently came across the story of Andrea, a physician, mother of two, and survivalist prepper. From food preservation to bug out bag packing, she’s completely on the ball for a survivalist. Her husband Thomas, however, doesn’t feel the same way. But they still live happily together. Andrea provided three pieces of advice for making it work, which we wanted to expand and add on to.
Be Subtle
The easiest way to turn someone off to a hobby or interest is to present them with too much. When something becomes overly complicated or confusing, people avoid or push against it. Often times, people will forget that they’ve spent month/years with an interest, and what may feel common sense to them is totally unfamiliar to someone else. This applies to prepping too. When you want to put together a bug out bag, don’t go in depth on their purpose and contents. Keep it small, say that you want to make a bag for emergencies to keep in the car. If they ask for more info, provide, if not, leave it be. When something appropriate comes up naturally, introduce a small aspect of prepping (collecting rain water, or canning extra garden veggies for example). As they begin to understand, they will be less resistant to you investing time and resources into it.
Make Prepper Friends
We all love our significant others. But a happy and healthy relationship should be able to recognize that they are still their own person with their own interests and disinterests. If they aren’t interested in prepping, you can’t force them to suddenly like it, doing that only develops stress and tension on the relationship. Instead, find people who ARE into prepping, and befriend them. Finding like-minded people that you can engage with on survivalist ideals means you can still get that social prepper itch without having to frustrate your partner.
“But where?” you must be thinking. You can look for local gatherings/events. See if camping stores or gun stores are holding social events. If not local, try online. There are countless prepper communities available on platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and so on. Just be careful, there are some real crazy folk online.
Stay Frugal
Hobbies are expensive. And prepping is no exception. From satellite phones to firearms, all the gear to be “fully” prepared really adds up on the checkbook. If you want to keep the peace between you and the one you share a financial livelihood with, staying fiscally sound is important. Establish what is a healthy and acceptable amount of money to spend on prepping a month. Stick to that. If a particular thing is expensive, save up. Dedicating too much of your shared resources to a craft they don’t participate in, even if it is for the good of the family, will be upsetting to those outside of prepping.
Let Them Enjoy Themselves
While this isn’t a mark that Andrea talked about, much of what they had said kind of elevated this idea. Her husband, Thomas, is big into collectable toys and Legos. He likes to stop by the store with each new release and buy the latest build set. And Andrea let them.
When you want to engage and invest in a hobby, it’s only fair to let your significant other do the same in their own hobbies and interests, even if you don’t share said interest.