How I would Survive an Apocalypse… | by Galren Reigns | Aug, 2025

Photo by Catalin Pop on Unsplash

I always feared the world would end in silence, or in a blaze of instant fire. Mass extinction in seconds, I’ve thought about it more than I’d like to admit. Reading dystopian books, visioning the end of the world in movies, it all left me thinking: “how would a debt-ridden, half-beaten college kid actually make it to the end?

The truth is… I’m broke. I can’t afford a bunker. I don’t have a shelf stacked with canned beans or a secret weapons stash. I would love one though, it would increase my odds exponentially. But, what I do have is a geology degree in process, a stubborn personality, and maybe a bit too much time imagining “what if.” So, here’s my honest plan, not from fictions but how I would actually make it if the world didn’t end in seconds. Maybe… Just maybe, I can save your life too.

The first seventy two hours are the most vital, jam-packed rush of your life. Those three days, decide everything. In desperation, a societal collapse, people panic first and pick up the pieces by thinking later. That’s both a curse and an opportunity. So, avoid hordes. I wouldn’t run straight for the grocery store , way too many people equals far too much chaos. Instead, I’d head for overlooked spots: libraries (for maps and guides), gas stations on back roads, and hardware stores no one thinks about until too late. Water, tools, and knowledge come before everything else. People forget that last part… Knowledge.

And as much as I’d like to think I’d be a lone wolf, the truth is survival starts with people. Even a small group gives you eyes when you sleep. Until proven, trust must be fragile, but necessary.

Then… It’s time to use the $25k+ geology degree. Knowing where to find clean water, how to read landscapes, or even just identifying which rocks can spark fire isn’t exactly a female magnet but it’s survival gold.

If the world burned down tomorrow, I’d immediately make plans to head towards the mountains. High ground means cleaner water sources, natural shelter, and less human chaos. The Vikings knew this… they relied on the land and didn’t fight against it. I’d be a Viking. My survival wouldn’t rely on gadgets; but community toughness. You have to build on what’s there, not not what you wish you had. Face it… that world you had is gone.

But, what no guide tells you is that survival isn’t just about food or water. It’s about not losing yourself. Trust would be as dangerous as betrayal but loneliness would kill faster than the hunger. And the hardest part wouldn’t be fighting off raiders, it would be finding a reason to wake up when the world feels finished.

Maybe that reason would be as simple as keeping someone else alive. Or maybe it would just be stubbornness, the will to keep going because giving up feels too easy. My reason would be simple. What can I find in this new world? Who survived?

Honestly? I don’t know. Maybe I’d last a few weeks, maybe a few years. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from imagining all this, it’s that survival isn’t about hoarding supplies or flexing muscles. It’s about adaptability. It’s about finding meaning in the rubble. What’s your meaning right now? Would it change during the apocalypse?

To some… the end of the world, in some ways, already feels familiar. Riddled with debt, uncertainty, suffocating under the world’s endless expectations. Their restrictions. Some maybe feeling out of place in a time you didn’t ask to be born into. Maybe surviving an apocalypse isn’t so different from surviving right now.

Ask yourself. If I can face this everyday, maybe I’d make it through too. I believe in you… you’ll survive.