I don’t own a bunker. At least, not officially. What I do have is an autistic brain that refuses to stop at the government’s 72-hour emergency kit advice. My head instantly asks: “Okay, but what if the power is out for 14 days? In January? What if the lake bursts its banks? What if the bomb falls?”
This is not a hobby, and no, I’m not paranoid. It’s simply how my autistic brain works. The exact same logic circuit that fires up when something unexpected happens — the one that forces me to replay the situation on loop, over and over, testing what I could have done differently — is also what kicks in when I read about a blackout, a flood, or worse.
As long as the scenario is somewhat realistic, remember Murphy’s law: if it can happen, it will happen. The odds are I’ve already thought about it.
My CEO, Bob, insists that all departments in the Brain Factory™ dedicate cycles to these issues. No exceptions. If there’s even a remote chance the grid goes down, or the river bursts its banks, or the zombies start crawling out — somewhere in my head, a department has already filed a contingency plan.
So yes — I have mentally walked through a zombie apocalypse, or a fungal infection like in The Last of Us. But I’ve also mapped out what to do in a severe flood, or when utilities fail for more than 24 hours. And yes, I even thought it through: what we would need to do if the bomb drops.
It’s the same brain pattern every time: identify the trigger, run the loop, iterate until a plan emerges. Then — only then — the loop slows down and I can rest.
It somehow gives me assurance that I still have some control if something extreme happens. And maybe you need to have an autistic brain to really understand why I need to do this.
So no, it is not paranoia, and no, I am not a doomsday prepper.
This is simply something my brain needs to do — to assert some kind of control in extreme situations.
And that’s the paradox: it looks like prepping from the outside, but inside it’s just an autistic logic loop doing its job. Once the loop has mapped out what to do in case of a blackout, a flood, or even the bomb… it quiets down.
That’s not fear. That’s relief.
And to be honest: I also think it’s just common sense to have some water bottles at hand, a few tins of beans and corn, some matches, and a working flashlight.
And if the flashlight is big enough, it can also serve as a weapon against zombies 😛
You don’t need an autistic brain to see the logic in that.
Brain out.