Prepping and Self Reliance - Limiting Your Dependence on Technology

Prepping and self reliance becomes more of a routine activity once it has become a part of your normal lifestyle. There are numerous ways you can achieve your goals but almost all will depend on you being able to survive with less technology, a greater dependence on your knowledge and skills and being aware of your own physical limitations. Many people currently live with varying degrees of technology. While a certain amount of technology will be necessary in order to survive, if you truly wish to develop a more independent lifestyle, you will need to limit your dependence on technology. Unfortunately, less technology quite often means additional work and planning is going to be required on your part.

Your lifestyle choice to be more self reliant will depend on a couple of major factors and these factors should be included in your planning. Your ability to become more self reliant will be largely determined in most cases by your skills and physical abilities. It is important to remember that your ability to become more self reliant will be affected more by what you know and can do than the items you have stockpiled.  Realizing that your skills and abilities are your most important resource is critical to becoming more self reliant and less dependent upon technology. Technology has been instrumental in making our lives easier but it has also made us more dependent upon it.

When seeking to become more self reliant, one of the most limiting factors is your physical ability. Even some of the basic tasks of everyday life can be almost impossible to achieve if you have limited physical abilities. How far can you walk if necessary? How big of a load, if any, can you carry at one time?  Or do plan to simply drag it? Limited physical abilities will mean focusing your efforts and planning accordingly to make up for any lack of physical ability on your part. Even simple chores can be labor-intensive and almost impossible to complete without a minimum amount of technology if your physical abilities are limited. Walking requires no dependence on technology but even a simple bicycle may get you a lot farther down the road. If you have physical limitations that limit your abilities, you will need to alter your plans to compensate for deficiencies in this area or increase the level of your physical fitness, if possible.

A lack of skills is another limiting factor that can affect your ability to become more self reliant. Even simple tasks will require rudimentary skill sets in order for you to maintain a self reliant lifestyle. Can you perform simple repairs on basic items or do you need to call a repairman? Or do you simply rush out and buy a replacement? Unfortunately, these options may not always be available to you and they can also be quite costly. Being able to use basic hand tools, perform simple repairs or knowing an alternative strategy to accomplish a task can make a huge difference in your level of self reliance. Quite often you can find a low-tech solution to your problem.

Less dependence on technology can mean that a lot of things will be harder to accomplish, not impossible, just harder. The trick is to remember to work smarter and not harder. A little “brain power” will usually save you a lot of “muscle power”.


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