In my previous article, The Age of Western Humiliation, I formulated my thesis for the next five to ten years in Western countries. If you haven’t already, read it first to understand what follows below.
I admit that it paints a bleak picture that many find depressing. But despair is not a strategy. Neither is surrendering to fate. You have agency. You can just do things. This includes preparing the best you can for the potential chaos increasingly taking over our societies.
How bad will it get?
Nobody knows.
Things might be mostly fine wherever you live. Other places might get burned to the ground. Still others might have regular flare-ups of violence and mayhem that massively disrupt daily life. It’s impossible to predict the outcome, but it seems clear that we are heading for the proverbial “bad times”. So we adjust accordingly and focus on the goal of this article:
To get you and your loved ones to the other side of the coming transition safe and sound.
Except for a small minority of people, that won’t be by building an underground bunker and not emerging from it for the next ten years. Instead, we focus on building skills and a mindset to not just survive, but become anti-fragile:
The struggles of these chaotic times must make you stronger and more resilient.
If you can do that, the odds of getting to the other side go up dramatically. There are no guarantees; improving our odds is all we can do. It will also take work, perhaps more than you’d like or are used to. That too is inevitable. Radical acceptance of these realities is the best starting position you can assume and I will do my best to give you the resources for that, and more.
Caveat: Just because I share a resource below, doesn’t mean I endorse it or claim it is 100% accurate. It only means I think it might have some value for you. Consider each item carefully, absorb what works for you and your situation, but most certainly feel free to discard the rest.
This article is an ongoing project, and I’ll update it regularly. So bookmark it and check it out from time to time. If you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Also, many of these resources are free, but some are not. Some have affiliate links and I get a small commission at no cost to you should you buy them.
Tip for when you check back in a while: Updates will always be made at the bottom of each list.
OK, enough of that, let’s dig in.
Don’t know where to start?
If you are starting from scratch, try this first.
- The 7 Pillars of Urban Preparedness
- The Seven Pillars of Urban Preparedness Podcast
- The Ready Citizen Manual
Background and context
By understanding the historical cycles of the rise and fall of societies, you can better understand how we got to the current situation and how to deal with it.
- The fracturing of Western societies Podcast
- We’re living in interesting times…
- The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy – What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny
- Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
- Fall of Civilizations Podcast
- SHTF Survival Stories: Memories from the Balkan War
- How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle
- Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail
- David Betz: The West on Irreversible Path to Civil War
Mindset and psychology
This covers both how to get your own mind right but also understand the mind of those you might come up against.
- The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
- The Gift of Fear
- The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival: The Brutal Truth About Violence, Death, & Mayhem You Must Know to Survive
- Controlling your anger – Practical strategies for everyday life
- From Polarization to Deradicalization – Pathways Out of Extremism for a Fractured Society Podcast
- Single variable thinking Podcast
- Existential fear Podcast
Preparedness and survival.
This covers a lot of ground and different aspects.
Crowds and mobs
Self-evident
- What to do when you end up in a protest? Podcast
- Avoiding and surviving protesters and mobs
- The other side of protests
Self-defense: general
Important information that is often overlooked in favor of pure physical fighting techniques. But it is just as much, if not more so, important.
- The realization that changed my self-defense training forever
- Everything you know about violence is wrong
Self-defense: techniques and training
Self-evident
- Boxing for Self-Defense: Taking the Sweet Science from the Ring to the Street
- Basic Self-Defense 1: Controlling Techniques
- The Fighter’s Guide To Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training
- The Fighter’s Video Guide to Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training
- Power/Control: Increasing the Power and Effectiveness of Striking Techniques
Soft skills
A critical element for dealing with tense situations is how you interact with others.
- The Beginner’s Guide to De-Escalating Violence: How to Prevent Violence Before It Starts?
- Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
- De-Escalate: How to Calm an Angry Person in 90 Seconds or Less
- Words of Power: A Guide for Ordinary People to Calm and De-Escalate Aggressive Individuals
Personal and home security
Self-evident.
- How to survive a home invasion: a practical guide
- Prepper’s Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary
Health and fitness
Staying as healthy and fit as you can goes a long way in becoming more resilient both mentally and physically.
- How to live a long and healthy life: four fundamental tips
- Building a consistent home training routine
- Resistance Band Full-Body Home Workout
- Stretching and Mobility Exercises for Martial Arts and Self-Defense
Economy and finance
Self-evident
- Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises
- Broken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better
Stay safe and good luck.
