Shit Might Happen. Here’s a Reasonable Way to Deal With It.
Look, things fall apart. Systems fail, the power goes out, your car doesn’t start, or suddenly eggs cost $9 and there’s a wildfire in your zip code. This isn’t a prediction. This is just Tuesday now.
And yes, it’s exhausting. The world feels like it’s lurching from one crisis to the next, and most of us are just trying to keep the group chat alive and our fridge from growing mold. So when people start talking about being “prepared,” it can feel…extra. Like a luxury for people with basements, budgets, and zero social anxiety.
But prepping – or whatever the hell you want to call it – isn’t about building a bunker. It’s about buying a damn flashlight before you’re using your phone light to find your other phone. It’s about putting systems in place so that when the next thing goes sideways (and it will), you’re not starting from zero.
This isn’t doomsday. It’s just Tuesday, with snacks.
Why most prepping advice fucking sucks
If you’ve ever Googled how to get started with prepping, you’ve probably landed on a YouTube thumbnail with someone in night vision goggles holding an assault rifle and 17 links to “tactical everyday carry” gear you absolutely don’t need.
That version of prepping is loud, expensive, and honestly kind of rooted in fear and control. It assumes you’ll survive the end of the world by hoarding rice and growing beets in a bunker. Not helpful if you’re living in a studio apartment and your landlord won’t even fix the radiator.
So let’s be real: most people aren’t preparing for the apocalypse. They’re preparing for rolling blackouts, flooded basements, or job instability. Or they want to be…but all the advice out there feels like it’s made for someone else.
That’s where Shit Might Happen (SMH) comes in.
What we mean by “prepared”
We’re not here to sell you fear. We’re here to sell you duct tape. Emotional and mental duct tape and maybe physical duct tape later, idk.
This is about practical, realistic, maybe-a-little-lazy resilience.
It’s not sexy. It’s not all-or-nothing. It’s the in-between:
- Charging your backup battery before a storm.
- Writing down your kid’s doctor’s number in case your phone dies.
- Knowing which neighbor has tools and which one has wine.
- Thinking ahead during a calmer time to prepare yourself for a not-calm time.
You don’t need to become someone else to be a little more ready. You just need to start. One thing at a time. The tiniest buffer between “everything’s fine” and “fuck, I should’ve thought of that.”
So why now?
Because we are, collectively, frayed as hell. Climate change, political chaos, economic instability, tech failure. Whatever. Pick your poison.
But also: we’ve learned a lot these past few years. We’ve learned how quickly shelves go empty, how slow help can be, and how often “normal” doesn’t come back the way we expect.
That doesn’t mean we panic. It means we adapt. Quietly, calmly, and with snacks.
What you’ll find here
You’ll find guides for normal people who want to feel a little less helpless.
Honest advice with zero condescension.
A growing list of practical ideas and low-effort wins.
No tactical vests, no judgment, and absolutely no MLMs.
Advice for people without acreage. If you’re in an apartment or you’re drowning in parenting life with no space on your counter for mason jars of homemade sourdough starter, this space is more your vibes.
We’re not survivalists. We’re tired. But we’re also not going to let the fact that shit might happen catch us completely off guard.
3 Takeaways
1. You don’t have to be a different person to be more prepared. You just have to start with one small thing. Then keep going.
2. Resilience isn’t about fear. It’s about reducing the number of things that can catch you off guard.
3. Prepping can be quiet, practical, and deeply human. You don’t need a bunker. You need a plan that works for your real life.
Feature image courtesy Anna Shvets/Pexels.