10 Survival Tips & Tricks Learned from The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a great TV show for preppers around the world.  Even though it’s fictional the survival tips and tricks are very useful because not only are they fighting zombies they are also protecting themselves from other people and surviving the elements.  You can learn so much from the show especially how to find food, water, shelter, security etc. and  how to protect yourself from other people especially as anarchy usually happens after any major disaster or war.

Here are some of my favourite survival tips and tricks from The Walking Dead:

1. Know who to trust

   In The Walking Dead the one thing that stands out is the trust of the group.  Every time they try to integrate with larger groups it never works.  The ones that last the longest are the smaller groups. When any disaster strikes people tend to gather together and the strongest and most knowledgeable rise up and become leaders. Depending on whether or not they have good hearts is how they lead those that follow them.

   You will have good leaders like Rick who is intelligent, strong, selfless, he cares about his group and has a good heart and good intentions in a dark and evil world.  Unlike the many other groups that they encountered where the leaders had evil hearts, selfish, self serving, proud, narcissistic, cowards, no principles and generally power hungry.

   Sometimes looking for a powerful leader can be your downfall and you can end up living in fear for all the wrong reasons.  You shouldnt take kindness for weakness.

   Learn to read good and bad people and learn how to study body language.  Rick always asked 3 questions every time they met someone new.

2. Don’t be stupid

   In any disaster it can be scary and you need to make life or death decisions in a matter of seconds on a regular basis.  Its easier said than done but it’s imperative that you stay calm, don’t give into your fears, let your fears make you stronger, find something to that you care about to live for, be brave and most importantly don’t be stupid.

   Knowledge is the key to survival which has been slowly replaced by distracting entertainment, false education, lack of practical life skills, idolism, etc.  With knowledge it becomes harder to make stupid decisions and more informed choices that will save your life.

   How many walkers have you killed?
   How many people have you killed?
   Why?

   Three important questions for that scenario.  Find your questions that will help you to surround yourself with people you can trust. Take a look around you, watch the news, right now you can see how easily people turn on you, we are surrounded by programmed people who don’t know any better and we need to be vigilant but stay true to who we are.

3. We all need liquid

   Unfortunately for us we can’t live long without water.  Fortunately for us we are surrounded by water.  We have water that we have bottled that can be stored, found and we have water above and below ground.  We have so many ways of purifying our water to drink, you can find out more here.

   Just remember we can only survive 3 days without water.  You will need to find a long term reliable water source.

4. Finding Food

   Finding food and transporting food are imperative.  Most people will go straight for the supermarkets but when they dry out they will start breaking into homes and when that runs out they will start hunting and foraging.

   Preppers are smart they stock up on dried & tinned foods that can last months even years.  Also in The Walking Dead and other post apocalyptic tv shows and movies is finding out where the food storage warehouses are early and making sure that you have a vehicle to carry as much supplies as possible.

   

   Also learning how to grow your own fruit, veg and farm animals. How to lay traps, go hunting and what to forage in the wild are all skills that you should be practicing from now.

5. Remote Living

   We all need shelter to protect us from the elements and for security.  Some of the best places to live in the walking dead was some of the remote locations in the country survived a lot longer than those overwhelmed in cities and suburbias.

   In Season 2, Hershel Greene’s farm left a lasting impression on me.  I loved the fact that the property was remote with a well and a fence.  If I had the funds I would build something similar with better security.  They could have lived there for years but it wasn’t written in the script lol.

   

6. Make your Home & Perimeter Secure

   We should be making our homes and perimeters difficult to access making us safe. If your home isn’t safe then find some where that is and make it safe and secure.  In the walking dead the had ingenious ways of making shelters and perimeters secure.  Its also important to have an escape route mapped out and a meeting point if you get split up.

7. Stock up on Medicines

   You should at least have a good first aid kit at home and stock up on pain medication, antihistamines, etc.

   When SHTF in the Walking Dead they would search homes, shops, pharmacies, care homes, etc. Medicine will become like currency and can be used for bargaining.

   There are also lots of natural medicines that people used for centuries before modern medicine.  There are some great websites and books on plants that heal.  You can read more here.

8. Get fit & Learn Self Defence

   Morgan and Michonne are real inspirations for me for so many reasons.  They opened my eyes to various self defence techniques that I hadn’t thought about.  I have started taking self defense lessons, archery and going to the gym.  I was so unfit and when push came to shove I was concerned that if I need to run I would be screwed.  I now have the stamina to run, climb, etc.

   We are being programmed to being scared, fat and defenseless.  We are reliant on others protecting us when we need to learn how to protect ourselves. Morgan uses a stick and Michonne a bad ass samurai sword.  Dont be like the residents of Alexandria defenseless.

9. Tools & Weapons

   You can do and create so much with the right tools and weapons.  We need tools to create shelters, hunt, build things and for protection.  In the walking dead alot of tools and weapons are found from scavenging but you need to have something in your home from the off.  Most weapons in the UK are illegal which is where self defence comes in handy but you cant defend yourself from a gun so when SHTF be prepared.

10. Become McGiver and rebuild

    Once you have found somewhere that you feel safe, there is food and water.  You can start rebuilding some creature comforts.  Like a well for water, secure your perimeter, toilets, grow food, farm animals etc.  Start educating yourself from now because the world is changing fast and the cushy life that we have now can change in a heartbeat.

There is a war happening, people are getting fed up with being dictated to, financial institutions are failing, secrets are no longer secrets and governments and corporations that used to trust are losing power. The world as we know it is changing fast there is an uprising and whilst they may not be “zombies” they are programmed to kill without thinking, it seems to be the only solution, Two wrongs don’t make a Right.  Everything that we watch, play and see is inciting violence and its only going to get worst and we need to be vigilant and protect those that we love.

Watch The Walking Dead not for entertainment (even though it is entertaining) but for what you can learn.