The First Steps in Preparedness

Now that you have decided to become more prepared, you need to make the first steps in the transition from the way you are now to the way you want to be. The gulf between these two things often intimidates people into doing nothing. Don't let that happen.

Take some baby steps and be satisfied with them. Understand that you will never be truly prepared for anything in life, only more prepared than you were before.

There are three key areas in which you should begin to advance in this endeavor.

• Developing a Physical Skill
• Learning a Mental Skill
• Becoming Physically Fit
• Saving Money

Developing a Physical Skill

Many men today, those that are actually working at all, find themselves sitting behind keyboards or cash registers all day. These jobs are not similar in any way to the trades in which many of our recent ancestors worked. 

There is some good to this. You would probably not trade your office gig for a short-lived and miserable stint in a coal mine before you died of black lung.

However, we have definitely lost something in this transition to a safer and more sedentary lifestyle. We have lost the muscular challenge to our bodies. Consequently, our bodies are no longer prepared for anything but riding in buses and cars and having robots do most of our heavy lifting. 

Furthermore, many of us realize that we do not know how to do anything besides punch keys on a keyboard. This can be a depressing and debilitating realization when you have already reached the age of full manhood. 

This is why prepping goals are valuable outside of any concern about doomsday. Achieving a lot of prepping goals is simply good for rounding out your character and your skill set. 

If you are presently in a job that requires a serious physical commitment (landscaping, construction, carpentry, etc), then this area of preparedness is of less concern for you. Understand also that this is not simply about physical strength but about knowing how to do something with your hands or something that has a real physical impact. 

An engineer or a medical doctor is already a master in this area because his actions and recommendations have a real impact, even in a world deprived of technology. A lawyer cannot say the same. Hopefully, you get the idea.

If you think that you have not acquired any such physical skills, find a way to learn and incorporate them into your life. Robert left the teaching field and became an ER nurse. I am learning how to handle and maintain weapons. You could learn to hunt, study car repair or go to HVAC school. Any such move in life will not only "prepare" you but will also be a big boost to self-esteem.

Learning a Mental Skill

If you are already learned in some crucial physical skill, then you may want to cross train yourself in something more cerebral. It depends on what your other skill set is. 

If you are truly prepping for TEOTWAWKI, then you should know that it is not enough to be a tough guy with a gun. You would need to be able to think clearly and analytically. You would also need some valuable knowledge beyond the details involved in camping and shooting guns.

Branching out into a different field is valuable as well to those who simply want to become better men. 

Either way, if you are already competent in some physical skill outlined above, you should try to acquire some skill in a more cerebral area. This could be as simple as learning how to play chess well. Or you might study calculus. 

Perhaps the best route to take with this endeavor is to learn code. Too many people on this side of the culture war are ignorant about the basic processes involved in using computers.You can do this for free online with your spare time. Try the Code Academy or some other resource on the Internet.

Becoming Physically Fit

Physical fitness is a crucial part of overall health. Not only do you become physically stronger, you increase your lifespan and reduce your recovery time from illness. You can find out more about becoming physically fit at our Preparing the Body page.

Saving Money

It is unmanly to be financially unstable. Robert and I can say that because we have both been financially insolvent and suffered the indignities of debt slavery. Poverty is not shameful but a man does not live beyond his means. 

You can learn more about money saving at our Financing a Christian Life page.

Acquiring new skills and strengthening your own independence are the proper foundations of true preparedness. These things have priority over buying a year's worth of peanut butter or amassing a small mountain of ammunition.

Don't Go On a Diet!

Now that you have made a decision to lose weight, I have one major piece of advice for you. Don't go on a diet!

As a man, your primary goal is becoming stronger. This may entail weight loss, depending on your starting point and how you proceed, but only a woman really benefits from "losing weight." You can see this all around you: women who have a certain underlying beauty that is marred very simply by their obesity. Subtract the weight and you have a beautiful woman again.

But you are a man and, hopefully, you are not looking for physical beauty. Instead, you should want to become physically and mentally stronger and tougher. This is not achieved through weight loss.

Instead, you are going to begin training your body for war. Take a look at how soldiers train and eat to
get and idea of what you want to do.

Easy Choices

While we warn you to avoid diets, it is still important to discuss diet - by which I mean the food that you eat. The knight do not recommend as specific formula for eating. However, there are some ways for you to make easy choices about food that will have a beneficial impact on your health.

In my own case, I made a decision some years back to drop soda entirely from my diet. I had not been a major soda drinker but I had seen in my work with patients in a rehab hospital how many of the had brought on their problems through a lot of bad diet choices in life, soda being a significant factor in many cases.

I dropped soda entirely for about six months, without making any other real changes to my routine. Eventually, what I saw in my work would cause me to start exercising and making more significant changes ot how I ate but, for the time being, I was just duping soda.

I lost about ten pounds in a matter of a few weeks. The weight loss basically stopped there and has since turned around (that's another article), but it was evidence enough for me to recommend it. When you subtract that input of pure, liquid sugar into your system, it has an instant impact on weight.

These days, I occasionally quaff a can of Coke, but I still don't keep it around and drink it as if it were a rare glass of wine at a celebration.

Anyway, there are any ways that you can make similar choices to kickstart your conversion to knighthood. Maybe you will stop eating potato chips (a really good idea) or candy bars. Either way, this is a good way to make the first break from a world that is eating itself to death - a death both physical and spiritual.

If You Insist on Dieting

Some people do not want the burden of coming up with their own system. We get this and respect it. People join monasteries and brotherhoods (like this one!) because they want some guidance.

So if you must adhere to a specific diet, we recommend something along the lines of Paleo or Atkins. The reason for this recommendation is the emphasis on protein. You are going to need it to build muscle after lifting weights and doing sprints (more on that on the exercise page: Preparing the Body).

Foods That You Must Plan to Drop at Some Point

However you approach this issue, there are some things that you absolutely must stop eating at some point in your journey to full knighthood. These include candy, cupcakes and al that trash they sell in the grocery store isle and in gas stations. There are exceptions and we will get into this later. In the meantime, start dropping whatever you can manage from your diet. Your oppressors are using that crap to keep you complacent.

Remember: Get Angry.

Foods to Seek and Eat with No Shame

Having dictated all those food choices, it is time to let you know that there is plenty of food which you can eat with no shame and, indeed, should seek out. These include beef, poultry, pork, fish, nuts, cheese, whole milk, cottage cheese, raw fruits and more.

There is little more depressing for a man than to hear how he has to tailor his diet and reduce himself to eating a lot of shade-grown, hippie crap. The knights don't do that.

Eat with gusto but remember to train for war.

Food is energy for victory.