Prepping as a hobby

A couple of times now, I've seen 'prepping' described as a hobby by some people online.

What an awesome thing to explore!

In many ways, the things we do as 'preppers' often cross-over to our everyday lives. The most simple example of this is the inclusion of your EDC gear into your standard 'getting ready' procedure in the morning. For most people, their every day gear consists of little more than a wallet, a watch and maybe a USB key. However, some people have a finely tuned system that hopefully enables them to solve real-life problems on the fly. More people than you might imagine have an EDC system - they just don't call it that. We all carry tools to help us, some more than others.

Just in our EDC, most guys take countless hours researching each tool as it applies to their overall system. In doing so, they learn all sort of things about flashlights, knives, load bearing kit, shoes, clothes, technology and more. In my humble opinion - this learned information trumps celebrity trivia outright. Not to say that one man's hobby is any more important than the next, but I do believe in a type of gradient when it comes to knowledge. Some information is just more important than the rest.


Reading reviews, conducting field trials and developing cheaper and better ways to do things is another huge aspect of the hobby-based prepper mindset. For some, it's really fun to get new gear and bring it into the middle of the bush. This is one aspect of preparedness that really interests me. I like to actually get out and use the gear I've purchased. That said, I'm not huge on stockpiling multiples of my gear... which can be another aspect of hobby-prepping. Some guys like to have a clean closet with, again, a system for stacking cans and gear.

There are multiple ways that people start living a more prepared and self sufficient lifestyle - and that's what it is, a lifestyle. I've found that for most, it's through treating preparedness as a hobby. Sure, there's the lunatic fringe that begin getting into it as a means of fuelling their own irrational psychoses, but more often than not I've found that people are usually just more interested in creating a safe environment for their loved ones during a crisis. That's an important way to look at it as well - it put's it back in your lap. You're creating the life you want to live, regardless of the external influences shaping the world around you.

So hobby-on preppers... and don't forget to drop by our FORUM.