For me there were a series of events that changed my outlook on certain things. I am often VERY close to DC, and sometimes in the city itself. Once, I was almost ran off the road by an old drunk guy( I was actually a passenger in someone else's truck). When we got where we were heading, he had followed us and began yelling, cursing, and threatening us with a pipe wrench and telling us he had a pistol under the seat that he would be more than glad to shoot us with if we didn't STFU and mind what he was saying. I was about 17 then. Things finally calmed down and we talked about what we "Should have done" and all the "What if's" about the situation. I was scared to death when that happened and thought about how unprepared I was if he had decided to swing that wrench or grab his gun. I had been jumped and robbed by two guys and almost beaten to death. I had a cracked eye socket, stitches, a broken nose, and countless other more "Minor" injuries. I almost went down though and I was afraid that if I had, I would have been stomped to death. I decided to fight back, adn when I did, they took off IMMEDIATELY. I figured I'd never get caught with my pants down again. I had always been around guns and shot a lot, but I was about to turn 21, and I decided to take advantage of it. I started studying, training, working at a major manufacturer, and eventually started competing with handguns. I did a little with shotguns and carbines, but mostly tactical stuff that I've tried to stay up on through the years. Those were the main issues that got me into firearms, training, and that aspect of preparedness.
I once got caught out in Virginia when a blizzard hit. I was with a buddy and our girlfriends. We were a ways away from home without much other than fall-time clothes(Which was under dressed even if it hadn't snowed at all). We ended up ducking into an old barn on an abandoned farm and climbing into the loft where we found a few old moving blankets. We snuggled up in there with nothing but 4 people, cigarettes, and our lighters. This was long before the age of cell phones. There was hay in the barn and woods close by, so we were able to get a fire going, but we had nothing to eat and nothing to drink. "Almost 2 days" doesn't sound like a long time, but when you're teenagers without any real skills and you're in the sticks, with NO supplies, it gets scary in a hurry. We were pretty much city kids at that age. I had some uncles that hunted and some neighbors, so I started going with them. I also took a backpack everywhere I went after that with the beginnings of a BOB. my cigarettes, a lighter, something to drink, and a knife. Not a whole lot of stuff, but a lot more than "Nothing".
I'm sure these weren't all the things that had sparked a change in me, as there were things as recent as last year that made me rethink certain things in my pack or that weren't part of my kit. I guess it's a never ending journey that makes me reconsider what I'm doing and what I have at that moment. Are certain things adding to the weight and not really adding much value, or is there something very important that I'm leaving behind? A lot depends on what I'm doing and how long, like camping, hiking, hunting, etc. This definitely translates over to the prepping aspect, whether I'm prepping to hunker down or to bug out.