I work towards being a sovereign, awake, prepared, and Antifragile human and family unit.
I hope you do as well.
I don't trust governments.
I have a healthy respect for history.
I understand the dangers of human psychology.
And I know how easy it is for people to convince themselves they are the "good guy" in the story.
Here are some thoughts on the topic…
The modern world is physically safer than the wild environment our ancestors faced.
But there are still plenty of risks, many of which insidiously grow in the shadow for years before rearing their ugly head.
There are unseen risks for individuals, groups, economies, and nations.
There are risks to any agreed-upon way of doing things, from health to regulation to social issues to raising children to institutional education to higher education, and more.
What most of these institutions and ways of doing have been doing in modernity is whack-a-mole response to problems—fix one issue, and two or more sprout up in its place.
This band-aid approach to fixing things has done a lot for looking good and little for actual good.
☄️Doomsdayers, Conspiracy Theorists, and Preppers
It's easy to ignore the doomsayers that are always talking about how the sky will fall next year or "this time is different."
The thing is, they are usually right in their reasons for their predictions. They are just wrong with the "when" part.
So I take a balanced approach to the negativity bias that tries to overtake my mind when I go down these various rabbit holes.
I've come to this: I need a simple plan for my future that includes health, wealth, and physical preparedness.
And you need it, too.
It's not hard to prepare. It takes some time and some money, but that's it.
Everyone can and should prepare as much as they can.
The sad reality is most people are going to be the turkey when things go sour.
🦃 The Turkey
The turkey believes that the farmer loves him because the farmer feeds him every day.
He gives me food. He loves me. He has my best interest at heart.
Then Thanksgiving comes along, and the turkey realizes what's been going on.
This metaphor applies to a lot in life.
How I think about it as it relates to risk goes like this...
Things are safe 99.99% of the time. So people go on thinking life will always be that way.
Then a .001% event befalls them.
And because they didn't prepare, they become the turkey.
They didn't make themselves aware of the risks. They were too comfortable, too trusting that things would stay the same.
This happened to most of the Jews in Hitler's Germany. Many thought/hoped that things would be OK if they just went along.
Only a few were willing to take action to get out before it was too late.
🪦 Death
Around ~1,000 humans are murdered daily.
You could say that it is a rare event, statistically speaking, but is it a rare event for Earth?
It happens about 1,100 times a day, every day.
For Earth, humans killing other humans happens over a thousand times a day, every day.
Most things in life are defined by your point of view. Risk requires a different point of view.
Now throw in the data from heart disease, cancer, accidental death, and other ways people die.
And you get this: 150,000 humans die each day on Earth.
Can you imagine what that number jumps to if we include all sentient life on Earth?!
I know, I know…. I'm forcing you to consider your mortality, and you probably don't like it or weren't in the mood for it, etc.
I would then say this to you: Take that as a sign to consider it more because you don't think about it enough. And not thinking about your death may end up being one of the most expensive decisions of your life.
💀 Death is fuel for life.
Without death, life would be meaningless, pointless, boring.
Death gives meaning to life.
And as much as I don't want to die, I understand this.
That doesn't mean I'm going to be the turkey.
I'm going to do everything I can to NOT BE THE TURKEY.
I want to be the Antifragile individual and my family to be as well.
I've been working on a list of traits germane to the antifragile mindset. This list is probably missing a few things, but here's what I got so far.
💰 The Antifragile, Free, Sovereign Human 🌎
1. Prioritizes health - real health, not the fake stuff touted by "experts."
2. Will live a long time (mostly due to #1, but also due to the rest of this list).
3. Holds real money (Bitcoin mainly, maybe a bit of gold and silver).
4. Buys and owns as many assets as possible and never sells.
5. Has a broad mix of physical skills—knows how to take care of self and family.
6. Thinks differently - if you think like the masses, you are the masses.
7. Abhors waste and ignorance - constantly seeks to reduce both.
8. Investigates everything before accepting anything.
9. Knows basic self-defense and the handling of firearms (Even if you don't intend on owning a gun, one can be used against you. So you should know how to use it and respect it.)
10. Accepts reality - pursues destruction of one's Ego as a strategy for being effective and more prepared.
11. Gets things done.
12. Has "Fuck you money" - and the freedom that comes with it (this is not as much as you'd think. you could also have "fuck you" skills. More on that later).
13. Has a well-designed Plan B for when shit hits the fan (an escape route).
14. Questions everything.
15. Does nothing without understanding the pros and cons.
16. Realizes that most people are not that aware and not that interested in becoming so. (So accepts this reality rather than letting it cause unnecessary stress.)
17. Will always help others.
18. Respects one's mortality—it's going to end and can anytime, so don't waste time.
19. Seeks to become antifragile when possible and robust in everything else.
20. Reads books and acquires knowledge as an integral practice to being less dumb each day.
21. Procreates and passes on the legacy to the next generation.
22. Seeks happiness, peace, and calm as a core foundation for living an extraordinary life.
23. Seeks simplicity—just enough is always better than too much. Too much is a ball and chain.