Value of ERE in a COVID World

[J_]

@Jacob your blog from 2011 is written as if it is now. Chapeau.
I think your way of writing/teaching is very inspirational. It inspires me to look forward, to think about the future. Your blog posts, the contributions of you and of many members and their reactions in this forum are the best help for me to plan, to constant adapt and to prepare myself mentally for the future of every day.

I think it would be very helpful to complete another book with all the gains and broader insights you have now.

[mooretrees]

I've been feeling really grateful we started down the ERE path last year. While we have much still to learn, we've been lowering our expenses and pushing back on empty consumerism. DH isn't really working on becoming a Renaissance man, he's already on his way just due to his basic nature (ADHD and hands-on learner). I've been slowly (painfully slow!) learning new skills/hobbies. Star gazing and bird watching aren't going to help me survive this virus, but they're pretty fun and might be more fun if we stop polluting the earth so much.

We don't have a ton of money saved, but we'll be fine during this whole crisis because we have some savings. Plus, unless I get sick, I'll be working during the duration of the covid reality. Even if I get sick, I have a lot of paid sick days and deeper savings than most Americans. Regardless of savings, we've been working on changing our mentality away from mindless consumption. We're only really likely to be slowed down with our skoolie project if it is unsafe to leave the house for building supplies.

However, I have never really thought about prepping seriously before this. This has been very revealing with how reliant we still are on the grocery store for daily living. While I've been a lackluster gardener, I've never really thought I might NEED to really provide for us via a garden. I mean, how do you prep for every possible disaster? It's mind boggling. But, back to the main point for this thread. While I am very much swept in the anxiety/fear about this virus, our daily life has been fairly normal. Few to no trips to the store after a few big shopping trips (early due to this forum) and we'll have to decide soon what we're willing to run out of before we go to the store. Because of ERE (book, wiki and forum) I feel like we've gotten our little family in a pretty solid position to survive this situation. I'll be curious in a year or two how people are shaped by this, will this be a turning point for some people?

[TheWanderingScholar]

@Bankai:
Personally, I am not of the "buy a f%cking armory" type, however I do want to buy pistol and a carbine in the future. Mostly out stemming out of the culture I grew up in, not being allowed to shoot guns growing up (mother HATES guns), and shooting a gun is another practical skill to have if I need to kill squirrels who keep stealing my crops, hunting invasive hogs, or keeping deer population in check. Self-defense is an obvious one, that I prefer never having to do however a gun is a tool which has uses beyond self-defense.

However, I have never really thought about prepping seriously before this. This has been very revealing with how reliant we still are on the grocery store for daily living. While I've been a lackluster gardener, I've never really thought I might NEED to really provide for us via a garden. I mean, how do you prep for every possible disaster? It's mind boggling.

You don't prep for every disaster. Just the ones you can realistically do in your case, i.e. unemployment, disability, or electric grid goes down. In case of full nuclear war? Yeah, everyone is f%cked except for (un)lucky.

[classical_Liberal]

I too am thankful for ERE. Even at my level, Wheaton 5-6, my situation is far more robust than it would have been. Financial capital, even when asset valuations are crumbling, has value. More importantly, the skill, understanding, multiple legs of capital understanding, and mindset to live with basics, while still living a good lifestyle has been invaluable.

I've kept food and other basic supply stores my entire adult life, as I've always felt a small supply disruption of any kind would be devastating to most the population in the US. This, despite the fact "mobility" is my primary means of dealing with any true breakdown. ERE, however, gave me an encompassing philosophy to understand why my intuition lead me down this path. It, and this community, has provided me with a logical means to continue this thinking towards its natural evolution, without feeling like I was bat-s**t crazy. As most people tend to think.

I tend to believe that the COVID-19 situation will end with the cure being worse than the disease. As others have pointed out, eventually the economic shutdown will cause more problems than the actual pandemic. This is where @brute, in years prior, would have come in to argue that it is not worth it chop off your arm to save a finger. Since current US isolation measures are half-hearted, I think continued exponential new infections will eventually cause a reverse in policy. The alternative is true lockdown, yesterday. Obviously our society is not ready for that.

On a positive note, perhaps, just perhaps, a major destructive event such as this could have a long term impact on lifestyle for a critical mass of Westerners. I encourage people here to look past the doom and gloom of present, and to begin thinking about how to help use this event as a springboard towards making a future we want to see for humanity. Something more ERE-esque. Now is not the time to throw around blame, but rather show others how easily we navigated this crisis, and how they could navigate future crises.