Good job, us! We survived another year (in spite of the Mayan calendar.) But the fact that we're still alive doesn't mean we should merrily go about our business and forget the fact that life is fleeting.

Search Google for "survival" and you'll find plenty of websites focused on survivalism (aka "prepping"). Thousands of online resources are dedicated to teaching people how to survive when SHTF ("shit hits the fan") or TEOTWAWKI ("the end of the world as we know it") comes to pass.

But you'll also quickly notice that most of these sites have overt biases: many are blatantly misanthropic and feature their owners' political and religious mindsets. Many are para-militaristic, showcasing more guns and knives than any one person or family would ever need.

These survival websites aren't balanced. They're often negative and inherently divisive. Yes, to some extent, survival as a human being on this planet is based on social constructs that are polarizing—and as many relatively well-known survivalists have discovered, it's easy to take advantage of fear based on religion, politics, or potential catastrophic events that will likely never come to pass.

But as with everything in life, in survival, there's a middle ground that, unfortunately, is often overshadowed by extremes. Mindful Survival is that middle ground.

We won't focus on fear. We won't focus on division. We'll focus on simple ways to plan for the future that will help you be more self-sufficient, live more sustainably, and become happier, no matter who you are, no matter what you encounter from moment to moment.

Many survivalist sites focus on why a hypothetical disaster situation will happen (i.e. socio-political upheaval, riots, war, pandemics, food shortages), when they might better focus on the fact that in an emergency, how to survive is more important than why the disaster happened.

Mindful Survival will help you learn how to survive, no matter the emergency.

We won't try to prepare you for every possible disastrous event: After all, if you try to prepare for everything, you'll be prepared for nothing. But we will teach you best practices, things that are relatively easy to do that can make a big difference in your and your family's lives—no matter what happens.

Sign up for the Mindful Survival newsletter to get updates and tips on how to be prepared, fearless, and in control. No matter what.

And leave a comment to let us know what you'd like to learn how to do to become more self-sufficient, safer, and happier.