I often say that survival is about being ahead of other folks around you.

If I want to "complicate" that definition a bit I would say that survival is also keeping the ability to cope with everyday tasks, stay alive, and still have the kind of life that makes you human.

What does that mean?

Survival is about staying alive of course, but to keep your self alive in an SHTF world can mean a lot of things. If you plan to live like an animal, completely without morals, it is not the kind of survival that I am talking about.

I am talking about life inside "boundaries" or a moral norm (or a religious norm, whichever suits you). That's what actually makes us humans.

It can be a tough task. Actually, from the point of "toughness", it is easier to refer to the most basic lower instincts in order to survive, but as I said it is not bare survival that I am talking about.

The reality of everyday life when the SHTF

One of the takeaways from students in our physical courses is that "this is complicated" or "this takes a lot of time" or "this is hard."

Now, please note that on the physical courses we do not teach and train rocket science. It is all about finishing everyday tasks, in very different settings. That's what SHTF life is. Students look for resources, shelter, and safety in settings that are closest to a real-life SHTF scenario.

We can say that we all do the same in our everyday life. We work in order to obtain resources, safety, and security for ourselves and our families.
The thing here is that we have a running system around us to help us with all that. When that system goes, we do the same, we want the same – but our techniques, timing, and aspirations are very different.

The easiest word to use it here is the word "harder." Everything will be harder when the SHTF.

You will need more time, more effort, and more energy, and you'll have much less safety and security while doing it. You'll be under a whole set of new dangers.

You can make it easier to some extent by taking away some luxuries. I mean you can lower down the amount of time and the amount of energy and reduce your exposure to danger by taking away any unneeded luxuries from your life when the SHTF.

An example would be that once the SHTF you'll be forced to cook your food once per week only, because it requires less fuel or exposes you to less danger. Or you'll lower your consumption of water by 50 percent because it takes you 2 days to obtain 20 liters of water and so on and so on.

Or simply you are not gonna have your favorite chocolate anymore because it will be too expensive on the black market, or your cigarettes or whatever.

The examples are numerous, but the point is that life will be different.