As we have been offering the remaining space in our community, we have been contacted by many people who wish they could join us, but just can’t leave their current family obligations. Sometimes there is a spouse who is physically ill, sometimes their loved ones just don’t “get it”. Besides expressing their deep longing to live the way we do – personally free and self-sufficient – they give us their apologies for not being able to join us. No apology needed.

To make the decision to stay in the midst of the coming chaos because those to whom you have a deep and loving commitment cannot wrest themselves from their current lifestyle is also a valid and courageous choice – as long as it is made with good information and open eyes. When chaos arrives (and it’s coming on a fast track) those who remain dependent on the systems (corporate, medical, governmental entitlements such as food stamps, disability payments, etc.) will likely be left in the lurch and fending for themselves anyway, but whatever they have to go through, they can hold their heads up as they fight through the throngs of panicked people who don’t understand what happened, and know that theirs was a conscious decision, not a blind following. To those who are staying behind for the sake of others, and not using that as an excuse to stay in what now seems a comfy situation themselves, we applaud your courage and your valor.

We’re not talking about people who can’t bring themselves to give up their six-figure job or their 62” plasma TV in order to live a more natural life, regardless of what does or doesn’t happen “out there”. Nor are we talking about those who say they are ready, willing and able to change their lifestyle, then fold in the crunch and let their “outside world” ways encroach on what could be a virtually Utopic scenario, hoping that the roadsigns are not really pointing to the edge of a cliff, so to speak. If they believe that the self-sufficient life is just too strenuous for them to deal with, wait till they experience the hardships of the coming realities.

Of course, the self-sufficient, not-dependent-on-the-system life is not for everyone, anyway. You have to have – pardon the expression – balls of steel, while not letting your heart get to the same condition. When others who are jealous of your freedom tell you you’re crazy and do what they can to discourage you, you have to remember that it is their own choices they are feeling guilty about. When you are so confident of your own abilities that you can offer kindness to others and that kindness is seen as a signal to take advantage of you, you have to be able not to take it personally. When you run out of something you thought you’d never run out of and you can’t get to the store to replenish it, you have to be able to get creative and learn how to live without something you thought you couldn’t live without – and you find you can. You have to be able to look at what is going on “out there” and understand that the daily challenges you face are not out of your control, but that they are all surmountable by yourself, and that you are up to the task by virtue of your own abilities, your own strength and intelligence, and your own connection to the universal energy of which we are all a part.

So if you choose to stay in the cities, in suburbia, in the system, don’t apologize. To make a choice is a courageous act – more courageous than simply allowing yourself to be blown by any wind that comes along. But don’t forget that it is your choice and that you still have the right – no, the responsibility to yourself – to make one.

Surviving Survivalism – How to Avoid Survivalism Culture Shock is now available FOR FREE. Even if you are surrounded by the chaotic masses, maybe it can help. Stop by survivingsurvivalism.com for your copy.