I Don’t Want to Be a Prepper… But I Also Don’t Want to Be Cold

How do we prepare for a future that’s so uncertain?

If we don’t know the destination, can we really map a path?

Absolutely — but not with a grand blueprint. Not with stockpiles or doomsday plans. Instead, with something quieter and more personal: deeper self-understanding.

I’m not here to sell you an all-in guide to the perfect future, and I’m definitely not suggesting you become a prepper (the idea appeals to me in theory, but for most of us it’s neither realistic nor appealing — we’re all wired differently). What I am suggesting is that we look at what we can predict — rising energy costs, stagnant wages, shifting daily demands — and figure out how to process those realities in a way that protects what truly matters to us.

A simple, grounding example

You walk into a room and flip a switch. Light. Phone charged. Kindle glowing. We rarely think about where that electricity comes from anymore. But the truth is: energy almost never gets cheaper. Usage rises, demand climbs, prices follow. Wages stagnate. At some point, the maths stops working. We won’t give up housing or food — so energy becomes the variable we cut. No one should have to choose between warmth, light, and basic comfort. These are human needs, not luxuries. Yet here we are, heading toward that choice unless something changes.

What can we actually do?

Start by understanding what we truly can’t live without — and why. For me, it’s silence. Not just a quiet room (most rooms aren’t truly quiet — there’s always the hum of appliances, the presence of others). Real silence is escape: forest, quiet park, empty beach — places we haven’t completely overtaken. So what I treasure isn’t silence itself; it’s the escape it provides — the space to let my brain and body settle. Once you know your own non-negotiables (and why they matter), you can protect them more intelligently.

-- Do you need electricity to read at night — for better sleep, for knowledge, for comfort?

-- Do you need the buzz of exercise — running, swimming, cycling — to feel alive?

-- Do you need the ritual of a morning coffee in a quiet café corner?

The power shift

When you understand the why behind these things, you gain flexibility. I thought I needed a car to escape the city and a gym membership to feel wired. Then I discovered that cycling to a quiet café (in a hard gear that makes my muscles tingle) + sitting by the window during the brief no-customer window gives me almost the same effect — at a fraction of the cost. Same sensation, different path. If energy prices spike or income tightens, I can adjust the balance without losing the core feeling.

Applying it to the bigger uncertainty

If the world keeps turning — if heating bills keep climbing, if AI and robots reshape jobs and abundance arrives slowly or unevenly — we don’t need to know exactly what we can’t live without. We need to know why we treasure certain things, and how to recreate their positive effect in simpler, cheaper, more resilient ways.

Are you the person who can lower the thermostat and snuggle under a quilt with a book?

Do you need to run off the day’s stress instead of firing up an FPS game?

Are you secretly an early bird living the wrong rhythm — and would a brisk walk before breakfast actually fit you better than late-night lights?

Discovering yourself isn’t prepping — it’s empowering.

It turns potential stress into possibility.

It lets you adapt without breaking.

And if the transition gets messy (as transitions often do), that self-knowledge might be the one thing that keeps us steady while everything else shifts.

In the end, AI and robots may handle almost everything.

Understanding ourselves could be what carries us through the messy middle — until the other side, whatever it looks like.

With love from a corner of France,

Mirrie ✨