The Importance of Doing the Best YOU Can

Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course

There are a lot of things in the prepping world that seem out of reach for the average Jack or Jill. Going to the range and burning through two boxes of precious ammo (ouch – that’s a lot of money!). Stocking up on the healthiest and best quality emergency foods (again, ouch – that’s a lot of money!). Ten-mile hikes in extreme weather just for fun and conditioning (dude, I’m disabled!). Gardens that rival Martha Stewart’s estates’ green spaces that are cared for by a team of dedicated workers (hello – I live in an apartment!)

There’s a point of view between being bummed out and thinking there’s no way ever, and finding these legitimate, aspirational things to do.

That is simply doing the best that YOU can.

We all have unique circumstances, benefits, and limitations. It’s up to us to find a way to do the very best we can in those circumstances. And that is unique to every single one of us.

Here are some budget-friendly examples.

As far as the shooting range, I don’t get there nearly as much as I wish I did. I simply can’t afford to spend a week’s grocery budget plunking away at targets, as much fun as that is.  So, I do dry-fire practice on a regular basis. Is it the same? Of course not. But is it better than doing nothing but bemoaning the fact I can’t afford to spend the ammo like that? Absolutely. I’m doing the best I can.

Stocking up on the healthiest and best-quality emergency food is a very worthwhile goal. But for many of us, actually paying for all the groceries we need in a week is challenge enough. And trust me, those of us struggling to pay for those groceries aren’t putting grass-fed wagyu beef and the finest organic produce in our carts.

Instead, I make certain to add these items every trip: a shelf-stable protein, a shelf-stable fruit or veggie, and a shelf-stable meal. That might look like a can of tuna, a can of green beans, and a can of ravioli. Is it absolutely the peak of nutrition? Of course not. But it’s the best that I can do right now. When the budget allows, I get multiples of these items. They can be added to my previous bulk purchases of rice, pasta, and dried beans to make even more filling meals.

Here are some physically-friendly examples.

Before I became disabled, I was pretty active. I walked everywhere that I could, sometimes worked out in the gym, and went on more conservative 3-5 mile hikes. However, that’s no longer possible. It took me a while to wrap my brain around the fact that this part of my life was over. I moped for quite a while, but then I began another round of physical therapy to get the most use out of this worn-out body that I can. I’ve recently begun taking short walks multiple times per day using a mobility aid. As this gets easier, I’m combining two quarter-mile walks into one half-mile walk, and so on, until I can once again walk a mile. If you had told me a few years ago, I’d be excited about walking a quarter of a mile outdoors, I would have thought you were insane.

The progress is slow, but now at least I can go a quarter mile all at once without it totally wiping me out, which this time last year seemed like a pipe dream. My goal isn’t just to walk a mile. It’s not to be a burden on my loved ones in the event of an emergency. I remind myself of this when unused muscles beg me to stop and when I get frustrated with the slow progress. I’m doing the best that I can in the circumstances I’ve been given.

The way you move may be different than the way I move. But I challenge you to move as much as you safely can in the circumstances you have. Start slowly and continue slowly, for every single bit of progress is a success you didn’t have before.

I’ve always loved Martha Stewart (you can see my ode to her here), and her gardens always inspired me when I lived on bigger properties and was more able-bodied. Right now, I have a few herbs in pots thriving on my apartment patio. I have limited space and moved here midsummer, but those herbs keep me in touch with growing living things. I make homemade jam and marinara sauce, and can these things, and it keeps my preservation skills on point. It may not be much compared to lots of preppers, but I’m doing the best that I can in the space that I have.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Aden wrote about this a few years back. And it’s so true. It’s impossible to be happy with what you have and where you are if you are constantly comparing yourself to other peoples’ highlight reels on social media.

It takes away the happiness of what you can accomplish (I walked half a mile using a rollator and my own scrawny legs yesterday!) when you look at someone else who is posting the map of their five-mile run and compare your feat to theirs.  We absolutely must stop doing this to ourselves. If we must compete and compare, what if we just compare what we did today to what we did last week?

Better yet, let’s not compete and compare at all. Let’s just live lives that let us be satisfied at the end of the day that we did the best that we could. Let that gentle acceleration of being well, a bit active, and a bit productive fuel us, especially if we are in tenuous health or stressful financial situations.

The same is true in reverse, too. If you are an agile endurance sport competitor, independently wealthy, have a military special forces background, and are a master gardener, for example, it’s rather unfair to look at other folks and wonder why on earth they’re not doing what you are doing. It’s even worse to state it and make others who are just trying to get by in an unkind world feel bad about themselves.

If I have learned anything over the past three years, it is that I cannot compare what I can do now to what I could do a few years back. It’s that I cannot be happy and mentally well by living in the past. I can still find ways to improve this less efficient body, but I have to be a thousand times more patient and gentle about it than I ever was in the past.

All we can do is the best we can, and that is different for every single person out there, whether they are preppers or not.

What about you?

As a prepper, trust me when I tell you, you are already so far ahead of the gen pop, just by your mindset alone. You have knowledge and skills, and you know what to expect. You have some things put back, you know when to evacuate and when to hang in there, and you are self-aware. These things are all so valuable in an emergency scenario.

Have you had to adapt to a different standard over the years? Are you prepping with monetary or physical constraints you never had before? What are some ways you are doing the best that you can?

Let’s discuss it in the comments section.

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