Today I want to talk about what tends to be a touchy subject in the preparedness world. Life/prepping balance.

There's a lot written out there about life/work balances and not letting that get out of whack, but sometimes I get comments on the website that are intensely critical, either of me or someone else, and most of them boil down to "clearly, you don't want to survive as much as I do" or "you're not serious about prepping."

To be clear, this is a lifestyle, not just a hobby. Those of us who are deeply interested in preparedness are more aware than your average Joes and Janes about the things that could go wrong. We map things out. We think things through. We put back supplies and we learn from every single storm and power outage.

I think that's great. That's exactly my approach. I love learning more every single day about ways to manage if the power goes out or skills that can help me in the event of a disaster.

The problem is when it begins to overtake your life.

I've gotten messages from people who loved their former spouses but left them because they weren't serious enough about survival. I've received emails from folks who despise living in the country but they do because "the city is a death trap." There are people out there who upend their lives and choose to be miserable and uncomfortable now because they think they'll live longer when things go sideways.

There has to be a balance. An appropriate ratio. Otherwise, you really are the "crazy prepper" that outsiders scoff at.

Life shouldn't be like that. If you spend all your time preparing for a possible event that will be 1% of your life to the exclusion of having a good quality of life the other 99% of the time, where does that get you? Is that really how you want things to be? Bad things can happen anywhere at any time, but so can good things, if you let them.

Don't leave a great job that you love because you think you'll fare better when the SHTF if you live unhappily in the boondocks until the balloon goes up. Don't move far away from everyone you love to "survive" if your life until survival time is not going to have a good quality.

Now, if moving to the country is your cup of tea, fits your desired lifestyle, and is your longtime dream, that is another matter. Then it's awesome! I've gotten to do this before, and I really enjoyed it. I've lived on a remote homestead in the mountains in California and on the edge of the Algonquin Forest in Canada. Both were spectacular places and I have no regrets.

But at this time in my life, it would be a nightmare to be in either place. So I'm embracing suburbia, the city, good doctors, and ease of accessibility.

No matter where you live or what your lifestyle is, you'll face smaller emergencies like storms or plumbing issues or money problems. That's how life is and prepping for those things should be our preparedness priority. Things like this are likely and happen many times throughout our lives.

But worrying about nuclear winter or an EMP or a Mad Max situation? Well, sure, I prep for it - we all do. But it's not where MOST of my prepping effort goes because it's not the MOST likely thing to happen. It could - and your other preps will help you to be ready for it. The food you put back, the skills you acquire, the knowledge you build will all help you through the Big Kahuna of Bad Events.

But remember that you still have 99% of your life to live that will be free of apocalyptic scenarios. That 99% should be treasured, enjoyed, and lived to the fullest. I don't regret a single trip I took. I wouldn't trade for anything the time I spent roaming around ancient historic sites in faraway lands.

I am so glad for all the experiences I have under my belt. I'm happy about the books I've read, the movies I've watched, the piano recitals I attended, and the gymnastics practices I took my kids to. I have loved living in cities and rural areas and having the experiences I had in those places.

When I'm gone (hopefully a long time from now), I don't think my family will sit around and say, "Wow, Mom sure did have a lot of canned corn. That's a life well-lived."

I think they'll unearth photos of me smiling in front of crumbling ancient monuments, find old scrap papers where I was practicing writing in Greek and Russian, and locate the jar of coins I've collected from every country I've ever been to. They'll see photos from the farm, from the cabin, from the high rise, and from the little suburban house in Ontario. They'll remember when we went to Disneyworld together or when we visited the Redwoods and rented an Airbnb in a former 19th-century brothel. They'll thumb through the thousands of books in my library that I've collected over the years. They'll have a chance to treasure all the wacky and wonderful memories, PLUS they'll inherit a lot of canned corn.

And that will be the legacy of a life lived in balance. One that focused on the 99% while still preparing for the 1%.

Thank you so much for the kind words about the puzzles I've been creating! I've written down every single suggestion on my list of future puzzle books.

This has been a really interesting project to spend some time with and your purchases are incredibly helpful. They go toward the rollator that I'm getting (it's not covered by insurance) so that I can get around better when I leave the house. So every purchase helps me more than you can imagine! (You can grab them here if you're interested.)

Being a total history and travel nerd, making these is really enjoyable. A puzzle book takes about 30 hours to create - it's a pretty hands-on process but so interesting to learn. Once I have a good selection of word search puzzles made, I'll start learning how to make crosswords.

If you missed out on the free puzzles I'm giving away, go here to check them out. And please please leave those five-star reviews on Amazon! It helps move my puzzle books up the search rankings!