You’ve seen the movies. The power goes out, the city goes quiet, and suddenly everyone is a leather-clad warrior roaming the wasteland. It’s a trope. Honestly, it’s a dangerous one because it focuses on the wrong things. When people talk about what happens when it hits the fan, they usually imagine a cinematic apocalypse. They think about zombies or nuclear winters.
The reality? It’s usually much more boring—and much more terrifying.
Maybe it’s a localized grid failure during a heatwave. Or a supply chain collapse that leaves grocery shelves empty for three weeks. It could be a personal financial "hit the fan" moment where the car breaks down, the job disappears, and the pipes burst all in the same Tuesday. Real-world chaos isn't a movie set. It’s a series of logistical failures that test your patience as much as your pulse.
What it hits the fan actually looks like
History gives us a better blueprint than Hollywood. Look at the 2021 Texas power grid failure. It wasn't an alien invasion. It was just cold. Very, very cold. People weren't fighting off bandits; they were trying to figure out how to keep their pipes from exploding and where to find clean water when the pumps stopped.
That’s the "fan" moment. It’s the sudden transition from "everything works" to "nothing is coming to save you for a while."
Disaster sociologists like Dr. Erik Auf der Heide have spent decades studying how humans actually behave in these windows. The data shows something surprising. People don't immediately turn into monsters. Actually, they usually help each other. The "panic" we see on the news is often overblown. The real danger is the loss of critical infrastructure—sanitation, communication, and climate control.
The Myth of the Lone Wolf
There is this obsession with being a "lone wolf." You see it in prepper forums all the time. Guys talking about heading into the woods with a backpack and a rifle.
Bad idea. Seriously.
Humans are social animals. In every major historical disaster, from the Blitz in London to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, survivors thrived because of community. A lone wolf is just a guy who’s going to get an infection from a small cut and have no one to help him change the bandage. If you want to survive when it hits the fan, you don't need a bunker; you need to know your neighbors' names. You need to know who has a chainsaw, who knows first aid, and who has a spare wood stove.
The Hierarchy of Immediate Problems
When things go south, your brain will scatter. You’ll want to do everything at once. You’ll want to check the news, call your mom, and fill the bathtub with water.
Stop.
Focus on the "Rule of Threes" that survivalists often cite. It’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s a solid framework. You can last three minutes without air, three hours without shelter in extreme conditions, three days without water, and three weeks without food.
Notice how far down the list food is? Most people spend their entire budget on 25-year shelf-life buckets of macaroni and cheese. If you haven't figured out how to keep your core body temperature stable or how to filter water from the creek behind your house, that macaroni is just a very expensive heavy box you’ll eventually abandon.
Water: The Silent Killer
In a true "it hits the fan" scenario, the water coming out of your tap is likely to be contaminated or non-existent within 48 hours. Most people think they'll just boil it. That's fine if you have a massive supply of propane or wood. If you're in a suburban apartment? Boiling water for a family of four every day is a full-time job that heats up your living space and uses up your fuel.
Invest in mechanical filtration. Something like a Sawyer Squeeze or a Berkey filter. These aren't fancy "prepper" toys; they are tools used by NGOs in developing nations every day. They work.
The Psychological Wall
No one talks about the boredom. When the internet goes down and the lights stay off, the silence is heavy. It’s a psychological shock. We are used to constant stimulation. In a crisis, your cortisol levels spike and then stay there. This leads to "survival fatigue."
You make bad decisions when you're tired. You might decide to drive through a flooded street because you’re frustrated. You might start a fire too close to the curtains because you're cold and not thinking clearly. Maintaining a "normal" routine—waking up at the same time, cleaning your space, having a book to read—is what keeps the panic at bay.
Financial Resilience is Prepping Too
If we’re being honest, the most likely way it hits the fan for you is economic. A 2023 survey found that a huge chunk of Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 emergency. That is a survival situation.
If you have ten cases of ammo but zero dollars in a high-yield savings account, your priorities are skewed. True resilience is being able to weather a job loss without losing your home. It’s having the "boring" insurance policies updated. It’s having a physical copy of your birth certificate and deed in a waterproof bag.
Real-World Case Studies
Look at Lebanon's ongoing economic crisis or the hyperinflation in Venezuela. In these places, it "hit the fan" years ago, but life goes on. People go to work. They find ways to trade. They fix things instead of buying new ones.
The people who fare best aren't the ones with the biggest guns. They are the ones with skills. Can you fix a radiator? Can you grow a tomato? Do you know how to sew a button? These are the currencies of a collapsed system. In Sarajevo during the siege in the 90s, lighters and salt were more valuable than gold for long stretches.
Health and Hygiene
This is the least "cool" part of survivalism, so it gets ignored. If the sewers back up, you are in a race against cholera and dysentery. You need a plan for human waste that doesn't involve your bathroom toilet.
Stockpiling bleach, heavy-duty trash bags, and buckets is more important than almost anything else. Also, if you wear glasses, get a spare pair. If you have a toothache, fix it now. In a "hit the fan" world, a simple abscessed tooth can be a death sentence because antibiotics aren't just sitting on a shelf anymore.
How to Start (Without Going Crazy)
Don't go out and buy a gas mask today. You don't need it.
Start with a "Deep Pantry." Buy what you already eat, just buy more of it. If you eat rice, buy a 20-pound bag instead of a 2-pound bag. Rotate it. Use the old stuff, put the new stuff in the back. This isn't "hoarding"; it's a buffer. It protects you against inflation and temporary shortages.
✨ Don't miss: Why Jackson Diner in Jackson Heights Is Still the Queen of 74th Street
Next, handle your water. Get a few 7-gallon jugs and fill them up. Store them in a dark place. That’s enough to keep a couple of people alive for a week.
Finally, do a "blackout audit." Tonight, turn off all the breakers in your house for four hours. Don't use your phone. See what happens. You'll quickly realize that you don't have enough flashlights, your manual can opener is broken, and you have no idea where the candles are.
Actionable Steps for Tomorrow
- Water Storage: Buy three 5-gallon BPA-free water containers. Fill them. It costs less than a takeout dinner.
- The Go-Bag Myth: Forget the "bug out bag" for a second. Build a "stay at home" kit. 90% of disasters are better weathered at home than on the road.
- Cash is King: Keep $200-$500 in small bills ($1s, $5s, $10s) hidden somewhere safe. If the power is out, credit card machines don't work. A $100 bill is useless if the clerk can't give you change for a gallon of milk.
- Download Maps: Use Google Maps to download your entire local area for offline use. If the towers go thin, you still need to know how to get around the backroads.
- Skill Acquisition: Learn one "analog" skill this month. Learn to cook over an open flame or how to use a basic pressure-canner.
When it hits the fan, the goal isn't to be a hero. The goal is to be the person who is calm because they already know what to do next. Resilience isn't a product you buy; it's a mindset you cultivate by looking at the world realistically and preparing for the hiccups, not just the heart attacks.