Tag Archives: continuity

Trailblazers and Trail Maintainers

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I discovered the website “The Art of Manliness” several years ago and enjoy dropping by now and then to see what they have to say. While much of it, obviously, is aimed at men, there’s a lot of it that is applicable to anyone, like a recent post in their “Sunday Fireside” series, titled “Blessed Are the Trail Maintainers.” It’s short, but here’s the most relevant section:

It is easier and sexier to start things, because novelty generates a neurochemical bloom of involuntary motivation. It is harder to sustain things when this cognitive cocktail dissipates — when the thrill of pursuit dulls into the mundanity of upkeep.

But the difficulty, the rarity – the chosen intentionality – of perpetuation makes the task all the more worthy, and valuable.

Ever seeking the not-yet-possessed, without caring for the already-obtained, is like drilling a mine that never breaks the earth’s surface; building a skyscraper that never rises above the ground floor; writing a story that never progresses beyond the introduction.

Brett & Kate McKay

It definitely feels satisfying to accomplish something new. It’s much less so when it’s something you finished some time ago–and still have to keep looking after it. It’s satisfying having 72-hour kits prepared for our entire family. It’s…less fun going through them every year to make sure the food hasn’t expired, the spare clothing still fits, nothing has leaked, etc. It’s nice having a well-tended yard, but not so fun keeping it that way.

And yet maintaining what you have is the essence of self-reliance. It’s keeping the tools sharp. It’s re-balancing your 401K. It’s rotating your food storage. It’s cleaning the garage. It’s identifying the things you no longer use and getting them to someone who will use them or getting rid of them. It’s not just noticing that the stopper that shunts the water from your bathtub faucet to the shower head is getting old, but actually making a to-do item to replace it… (Speaking of which… one moment, please! Okay, done!) …and then following through (Oh.).

Self-reliance can be sexy. I’m still rather proud of my nice new water storage stack. But that will fade. And when it comes time to check it and replace it it probably won’t be so fun. Becoming self-reliant may be sexy, but remaining self-reliant will likely become work. But it’s the maintaining that matters. What good is having food storage if, when you really need it, the flour is full of weevil, or you find moisture has gotten to your cans and rusted some of them through? What good is learning how to change your own oil if you never do? Or building a new fence and letting it fall into disrepair?

Everyone loves a trailblazer. But it’s the trail maintainers who keep the trail worth taking.

Financial records and “continuity planning”

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Most businesses have established (or at least should have) business continuity plans for ensuring the business can continue operating in the event of a localized or general emergency. This is the case with households, too. Emergency evacuation plans and 72-hour (bug-out) kits are essential. But there is another emergency that is far more likely yet far less often planned against: the death of a spouse.

A recent article on Yahoo! Finance brings this home:

A case in point for not making big decisions soon after a spouse’s death is Maureen Saunders. The financial chores following the death of her husband, Hubert, from pancreatic cancer in 2006 at age 65 were crushing enough. Although Saunders, now 58, balanced the checkbook, her husband was the main financial decision-maker, especially when it came to investments. His death left her “in uncharted waters, not only emotionally and spiritually but also financially.”

Saunders had to wrangle with the life insurance company, which didn’t believe she was her husband’s beneficiary. She had a “total meltdown” in the bank when she discovered, after bouncing some checks, that the Social Security Administration had rescinded Hubert’s latest direct-deposit benefit payment. She proved that her husband died after the deadline to be eligible for that month’s payment, but it took weeks for the government to return the money. She did not realize that she would not be eligible for a survivor benefit until she turned 60. “You’re so vulnerable and raw, and there is always another form to fill out,” says Saunders, who lives in St. Petersburg, Fla.

This is an area I can certainly do better on, even though I’ve discussed it before. But our recent mortgage application, relocation, and trying to find stuff after the move has reminded me that there is a great deal of financial information my wife would not know how to find if something were to happen to me. I need to get everything organized, document where to find everything, and then sit down with her and go through it.

On the bright side, we did find out that our efforts to establish credit in my wife’s name have paid off. She’s from another country, having moved here as an adult, and as such did not have a credit history. We started working on that, and during the mortgage application process we found out we were not only successful in establishing credit, her credit score is higher than mine!

Getting organized, however, is essential. Probably the best place to start would be to get her acquainted with the regular bill-paying, and then move toward the bigger, long-term items. We have time, of course, but then everyone does–right up until they don’t.