I’m a Prepper—But Not the Doomsday Kind
I’m a prepper. Not the doomsday, bunker-digging kind—but the worst-case-scenario type. I always have a contingency plan, and honestly, I blame my engineer husband for that. I used to be a carefree human being. But after almost forty years together, I’ve been… optimized. Ruined, if you ask me.
They say you eventually start to look like your dog or your spouse. Mine are both tall and hairy—I am still neither. But I have adopted my husband’s practical, forward-thinking mindset, even if I haven’t grown a beard.
I love to joke that it’s all his fault, but truthfully, it’s not. It’s life. Being a mother while my husband traveled ninety percent of the time meant I had to be prepared and self-reliant. And that’s not even counting the ever-present car stash: snacks, spare clothes, and vomit bags—just in case.
To this day, my car still holds extra water, a blanket, a coat (even though I live in Southern California), and random supplies I might never use—but might need. That’s just who I am now.
Of course, it wasn’t just motherhood that turned me into a prepper. Chronic health issues played a big role. With IBS, I learned to identify clean bathrooms in any location, faster than a GPS could. With Celiac disease, I memorized every gluten-free menu within a 20-mile radius. And now, as my hearing declines, I’m prepping for a future where my job might need to adapt to my changing abilities.
I started researching careers that suit people with hearing challenges—something less dependent on constant interaction. Coding and accounting popped up frequently, but both sound painfully boring to me. Living in near silence is one thing; adding tedium on top of it feels unnecessarily cruel.
Then I fell into the rabbit hole of side hustles: everything from selling foot pics (a hard no) to flipping items on Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari, or trying affiliate marketing, blogging, or becoming an influencer.
Influencing sounded promising—until I realized I dislike makeup tutorials and find most influencer videos kind of annoying. So much for that.
But I did start a Poshmark closet—and surprisingly, I’m enjoying it. It’s fun, but not easy. Finding good deals to resell takes patience, organization, research, and planning. A lot more work than people assume.
Blogging? That’s also enjoyable, but creativity doesn’t always clock in when I do. Some weeks, my brain just refuses to show up. And without a clear niche, it’s easy to feel stuck.
Someone recently asked me why I’m exploring all these side hustles. I told them: I’m prepping. I’m prepping for the day when my hearing aids stop working well enough. I’m prepping for retirement. I’m prepping for life—whatever it throws at me.
Because that’s what I do. I’m a prepper.
And honestly? It’s not a bad thing.
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