10 Ways Preppers Can Relieve Stress & Anxiety

Preppers aren’t immune to stress and anxiety. Many people are simply unable to properly handle stress and anxiety and will eventually have panic attacks. Those who experience panic attacks work extremely hard to control the attacks in a variety of ways.

I’m not any type of medical professional, but I am a long time prepper and mom who understands stress and anxiety very well.

There are many reasons preppers may experience stress or anxiety:

• Not being able to prep fast enough
• Unable to handle a crisis
• Not sure they’re prepping the “right” way
• Everyday financial, family or job stress
• Burden or guilt
• Self-doubt or depression
• Feeling like no matter what you do, you’ll be a failure
• Too much going on

These are all very common thoughts to have. We all have self-doubt, we all get down on ourselves. As preppers, I think we have a heavy responsibility to always be prepared and that responsibility can sometimes become a burden.

But it doesn’t have to be that way!

Here are 10 ways that preppers can relieve stress and anxiety:

1. You’re Not Perfect – I know it’s hard to admit, but it’s true! You’re not perfect. Nobody is. Every time you’re feeling down on yourself or feel bad about your progress, just remember that you’re not perfect. You’ll get through this at your own pace, doing it your own way.
2. Breathe – Deep breathing is one of the quickest and easiest ways to relieve stress in any situation. Whenever my kids are on my last nerve, I have to stop, take a few deep breaths, compose my thoughts and come back at it. The more you do this, the quicker you’ll be able to compose yourself. Instead of taking 10 seconds, you may only need 3. Or whatever, the point is, you’re conditioning yourself to take a minute before letting stress get the best of you.
3. Meditate – I’ve talked about meditation quite a bit and I can attest to how good it makes me feel. Meditation forces you to only focus on your breathing and completely clear your mind. It sounds difficult, and it is at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will be amazed at how just 5 minutes a day can change your whole perspective on life.
4. Switch Focus – Whenever I need to relieve some stress, I’ll either head down to my range and shoot my firearm, or I’ll sling some arrows with my bow. Turning my focus on some training like with shooting a gun or bow, I’m relieving my mind from the stress to focus on something I truly enjoy. It doesn’t have to be shooting, maybe you enjoy using your sling shot? Maybe it’s slicing up some bottles with your knife? Throwing knives? Painting? Making a fire? Basketball? Gardening? Hiking? Camping? Bike ride? Board game? If you’re able to switch your attention, do that.
5. Journal – Journaling is a great way to release everything out of your mind and get it onto paper (or the screen). We can rationalize our thoughts a bit better when they’re sitting in front of us. Break out your computer or a pad and pen and get to writing!
6. Talk It Out – It’s never a good thing to let things fester inside of us. This is especially important in a crisis. If you’re having trouble deciding what to do, vocally communicate your thoughts and ideas, even if there’s nobody else but yourself to listen. Vocally speaking your thoughts can help you get through a situation because everything sounds completely different once spoken. If you can get feedback from someone else, that’s even better, but at the very least, go ahead and talk out loud to yourself!
7. Be Clean – Clean your house, clean your diet. I can tell you from experience, when I eat like crap, I feel like crap. There’s no judgement here, though, I like sweets and I like salty. But I do so in moderation. It’s been scientifically proven that the food we put into our body has a direct link to how we feel. Also, a clean and organized house can make you feel accomplished and satisfied. I HATE cleaning, but I also LOVE how my home looks after I’m done.
8. Learn To Act – Instead of sitting and stressing out about a situation, DO something! Even if it’s a tiny act. Stressed about your food storage? Go buy a can of beans. Stressed about your fitness? Take a walk around the block! Stressed about a crisis? Follow your plans and act. Take tiny little steps towards your goals, not huge ones. Most people get bogged down because they feel they aren’t making ANY progress so they just STOP making progress all together. Instead, you need to be making tiny steps towards your goals, not huge ones. It’s a tough lesson to learn and we need to remind ourselves constantly. But we got this!
9. Laugh – Laughter really is the best medicine. Goof around, crack a joke, watch a funny clip, listen to your favorite comedian, get into a pillow fight with your kids, etc. Force yourself to crack a smile and laugh. It will instantly change your mood and your mindset.
10. Focus on what you CAN control – Humans love to make ourselves suffer over the things we can’t control. I do it everyday. But then one day, I got sick of it and decided to DO something about it. I can’t change the world or thoughts or actions of others, I can only change myself. When I decided to focus on what I CAN control, the whole world around me changed. I can share awareness, change my perspective, be more informed, be better prepared, try to be a better parent, show small acts of kindness, etc. None of these things are huge, but they are things that I can control. Focus on what you CAN control, not what’s out of your control.

As a bonus: be grateful! Look around your life and notice everything you’re grateful for. The smallest things like a roof over our head, food on the table, clean water, etc., can land us back to reality.

Do I still get stressed and anxious? Sure. We all do, maybe some more than others. I have my moments of self-doubt and stress and anxiety, but I’ve also been training myself to be able to bounce back and act/react. So each time I have these feelings, I recognize it immediately and decide to act, instead of perpetuate the stress.

I can tell you from experience that my whole world, perspective and how I act/react to life has improved 1000 fold because of the above methods.

It takes time to improve yourself, this isn’t instant overnight success. But if you’re conscious of your feelings, your actions and how you act/react to situations, then change will come.

You got this!