Often there is talk about ‘when to leave’ if the SHTF. Frankly, no one in the world but you can make that judgment call based upon your particular set of circumstances and the situation at hand. My only hard and fast rule about ‘when to leave’ or get out of dodge is this: If it is life threatening…or highly likely to be so, it is time to get out or leave.
With that said, often times it won’t be that obvious and it then becomes a matter of how much control and power you have within the given situation/circumstances or are likely to have that motives (or not) you to stay or go…misreading the situation due to fear and doubt about trusting your own heart and gut instinct can and will have consequences.

Fear and doubt are going to be the two major factors that determine most peoples actions if and when it hits the fan.

Some will become paralyzed, deer in the headlights, in complete denial and act as if everything is just fine. Selco, who survived the Bosnian War of the mid 90’s speaks about this and the results. Guess who died first?

Others will fall into the learned helplessness position…I can’t do anything about it so why even try? Keep your head down, don’t talk about it and it won’t happen/I won’t have to take action. The fear and doubt here results from not having the confidence within themselves to do for themselves or having the fear of making a mistake and getting wacked for it. Often you see this behavior within people who have been prisoners of war or abuse victims. The doubting of themselves and their ability to trust themselves and instincts (not irrational fear based ones) and others for that matter, leads then into apathy. They KNOW what they need to do, but can’t. Skinner proved it with his dog experiments. Everytime the dogs tried to eat they’d get shocked to the point that they would cower if they even saw a bowl that looked like food and wouldn’t go anywhere near it and starved to death. This is a simplistic view of learned helplessness but a lot of people, when faced with something resembling change/SHTF will go with it. Guess who dies next?

Then we have an interesting type of learned helplessness that I see ALL OVER this country…I can’t, so you will/have to. For decades we have had ‘wars’…wars on poverty, wars on drugs, campaigns against this, that or the other…drinking and driving, teen pregnancy. Its called dependency upon the system or some ‘authority’ for some form of survival assistance. In this case you will find people, who like junkies, will just sit and wait for some higher power (ie someone else) to come and save them just like they always have. And if you really think about it, people who stay at jobs they hate and are completely unhappy have this learned helplessness/dependency mindset, because they believe that, this is just what life is about.
Guess which ones go next or turn to addictive behaviors, violence or some other form of ‘getting what they deserve’? so much for the learned helplessness at this point…either they go down or they fight ‘for their right’.
Those that choose to ‘fight for their rights’ become very dangerous and controlling. They swing the opposite way in dramatic change/SHTF situation. They will not CARE. For once the drug has been taken away they seek it out like a junkie who has run out of money. On the otherhand, the person who stays stuck in a job they hate, a life they hate will find ways of coping that will keep him/her anesthetized or will just check out literally or figuratively.

Now we can step it up to something a bit better…those who see what is going on, takes some action, but then gets frozen (see the above three) and can’t go any further. Here again we have fear/doubt, power/control playing within the person. There is less fear/trust issues but enough that they will do just enough to fool themselves into believing that they have done all they can do to help themselves (or others). These people in my opinion are the sheeple, done all I can, what more do you want, you take care of the rest…Next on the food chain, they fall into a false sense of security because they have ‘done their best’ but still stick their head in the sand. When it hits, they struggle and try, but ultimately roll over to despair and learned helplessness.

Next up, we go to those who are able to see past fear and doubt that is ego based. They know what may happen and take steps to prepare to take care of themselves and theirs but its not fear based…its merely a risk assessment and then taking the next steps. They act not out of fear but out of confidence that they do have control (somewhat) over the ‘ending’ or their lives. This can play out several ways in the real world, but you can recognize right now these sorts of people…they are first responders, preppers, those who say, okay, yep, it can happen, I know it can and might/will….and they think it out in a positive way (if they go negative they fall into the above category). They might be scared, might work from fear initially but they see the risks and take positive action to get ready. They do NOT hide from change, rather they see it may happen and then change behaviors to make a more favorable outcome. These types of people might stay ‘just in case’ but they sense when’s its time to go/leave BEFORE panic hits.
They survive and learn to adapt. The mind set is ‘okay, what do I have to do?’…it’s the first stage of total personal responsibility.
They tend to live with a steep learning curve.

Next, we have those who fit into society but see beyond the myth…they are not radical nor paranoid, they just see through the illusions. They know and understand where events are leading and prepare accordingly. They tend to be preppers, survivors. They are almost inherently those who instinctively know what to do or not to do. Many are first responders or sheep dogs. But they also know their limits and family is first. They stock pile just in case. Even if just a bit. They WILL leave before things get bad because they see the writing on the wall before hand because they have no fear or doubt about what they feel or think. They will survive. They will find others to trust and work with. THEY THRIVE.

Lastly, and this has to be addressed, we look at two types of no matter what survivors. The paranoid type who has gunned up, fooded up, hunkered down, and sees everything and everyone as a threat. That’s great. But that is FEAR in over drive. Isolation takes over as a manifestation of fear and honestly, they are just as bad as the helpless/dependent but have staying power and WILL come into conflict with others because they doubt and fear others.

I don’t know, this is just how I see things as someone schooled as counselor, criminology major and having worked as a domestic violence counselor.

But here is the bottom line…fear and doubt will control you. When this happens, you don’t know what will happen. Being prepared, even if a bit will give you a sense of control and put aside some fear.

So where do you fall at this time? You have the power of choice in this matter. When do you are making personal decisions you gotta first understand where you are coming from.