less stress

LESS STRESS


A minion sent me one of the reoccurring e-mails warning how the insidiously evil ChiComs are trying to kill us all by tainted milk products. Of course, they are also trying to kill off their own populace. There are a few lessons here. First, a few bad batches of baby formula ain’t nothing compared to the slop our own mega-ag-corps are pouring down our throats, namely FrankenFood ( How the Government Got in Your Backyard: Superweeds, Frankenfoods, Lawn Wars, and the (Nonpartisan) Truth About Environmental Policies ) corn. Second, this kind of thing happens when you have too many people and the industrialized nations resort to the equivalent of Haitian mud pies to fill bellies. Third, Britain relied on imported food over a hundred years ago and was nearly handed its ass several times- a lesson we never learned from as we start down the same road ( before you protest that we are the globes breadbasket remember that corn is our main feedstock and 43% of that ends up in our gas tanks- so while we might GROW enough for ourselves, we CONSUME imports to continue with that happy state of affairs so aptly described by Kunstler as Happy Motoring ). Forth, we used to be right where China is now, coal power plants spewing death and every village next to a toxic leech pond. That was the price gladly paid for economic growth. We never cleaned up our industry as much as we just exported the pollution. And plenty of idiots want to go back to that time.

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A hearty Hi Ho and Thanks to the Three Amigos ( http://tslrf.blogspot.com/ )( Three Amigos ) for their shout out to us here at the Bison. They can’t come right out and say I’m the greatest survival/prepper blog ever, as they have to pander to their advertisers, but I think we all know that’s what they meant when they linked to an old article on pan bread. I had forgotten I’d even written that glorious piece. But, hey, when they are all worthy of a Pulitzer Prize ( The Pulitzer Prize Collection (13 Books) ) it is hard to keep track of the best ones ( and before you say anything, if our commander in chief can win a Nobel Peace Prize for continuing to kill off Iraqi, Afghanistan and Pakistani civilians I certainly deserve every writing prize out there ).

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A minion wrote and nicely asked that I stop humping around and get back to writing on frugal preps rather than my insipient drivel I’ve been passing off as instructional brilliance lately. Frankly, that well is pretty dried up most of the time. I’ve covered it all. That is one of the downsides of distilling away all the bullcrap and getting down to core issues. It makes everything rather simple. But, hey, this is a favored subject of mine and I would love to cover it more. Should I do a once a week rehash of core issues ( such as where to buy wheat, packing wheat, cheap water filters, etc. ) or are you all tired of hearing about the “$500 frugal survival package”( THE FRUGAL SURVIVALIST disaster preparations under $500 )? Sound off, let me know. I’m thinking if you don’t want that in the regular blog I could just do short articles and post online at my web site for easy future reference. That’s an option also.

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Today we talk about stress. Specifically, my stress. And mostly the lack thereof. I used to be stressed so I drank refreshing adult beverages. But the years tend to blur by in alternating small stretches of intense pleasure followed by much longer periods of hangover ( The Hangover (R-Rated Single-Disc Edition) ) pain so I had my last drinks by my mid-twenties. Soon after I which I started to write. It’s possible to be a full on alcoholic and be a writer, it’s been done more than once, but I prefer to be clear headed at all times as I let my mind wander into chicken little territory during all waking hours. So I don’t really have an outlet for stress anymore. Perhaps that’s why I’m so high strung. Alcohol might be one of mankinds greatest tools, allowing one to dull stress. In fact, my newest and greatest theory ( they pop unbidden to mind on a regular basis but are as always subject to change ) is that agriculture being widely practiced had nothing to do with wild game being killed off or with the need to out populate enemies but simply so that a lot more beer ( Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing ) could be consumed than was available by picking wild grains ( beer is a nearly perfect food in that it delivers calories with the buzz, a concentrated sandwich in a can ).

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Oh, and by the way, you are welcome. You wouldn’t have such a delightful and high caliber product to peruse if I drank. Anyway, I used to have pretty severe stress attacks. Not really panic attacks ( When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life ) although it felt like that at the time. But out of the blue I’d get really pissed, angry, stressed and fed up at all the crap sandwiches that were being forced down my throat. I’m sure this is a normal thing with everybody. We turn our faces beseechingly towards heaven, why you sorry excuse of a deity, why? Okay, I know we all have it pretty good. We ain’t in Somalia starving or in Leavenworth bent over a cell bunk getting sodomized. But, stress is all relative. Even in our soft pampered lives there is a heck of a lot of stress. I would want nothing more than to tell everyone to go pack sand, to stop trying to survive off of my efforts and sweat. Which might be one of the attractions to the Apocalypse. At least then we have the option to kill those kind of bastards. Not that it would last long before the new civilized group restored peace and order. Anyway, there were times I wanted nothing more than to drop it all and escape somehow.

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I hardly have those “episodes” anymore. Even when I found out several months ago that Florida expected me to continue supporting my now adult child for two more years ( they didn’t say that exactly, they just wouldn’t authorize reduced payments to be deducted from my paychecks ). It pissed me off, but I quickly got over it. Even if it will cost me another five grand. Because I’m a lot more relaxed. I still stress just as much, but the level is lower and passes quickly. What changed in my life? Only one thing of substance. I was no longer paying rent ( and by the way, I regard a mortgage as rent since you pay the banker for twenty or thirty years and the county taxman the rest of your life ). That was it. Whether you pay twenty percent of your income or sixty, the stress of having to continually come up with the payment is something you don’t think about since it is as natural as breathing. Until you don’t have to and then you notice a huge difference. It is like a second job you work for “mad money” ( Mad Money ). Since you can quit anytime it isn’t as stressful. When most of your income isn’t needed for rent you stress less. You still need income, but the fact you don’t have to be homeless if you quite makes it less stressful. Well worth living more primitively. A LOT less stress.

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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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