“The will to survive, The refusal to give up!”
It takes much more than knowledge and skills to survive! Some people with little survival training have managed to survive life threatening situations while others with professional survival training have not used their skills and died. Why does this happen?
Answers: The mental attitude of the individual(s) involved. Having survival skills is important but having the will to survive is essential! In a survival situation, you will face many stresses that impact your mind. These stresses can produce thoughts and emotions that, if poorly understood, can transform a confident, well-trained individual into an indecisive, ineffective individual with questionable ability to survive.
Fear: is our emotional response to dangerous circumstances that we believe have the potential to cause death, injury, or illness. Affects physical,emotional, and mental well-being. It can cause you to become so scared that you fail to perform activities essential for survival. Fear can also have a positive function! I can encourage you to be cautious in situations where recklessness could result in injury.
Solution: Through realistic training for instance with Peak Survival Intro- Intermediate courses, you can acquire the knowledge and skills needed to increase your confidence and manage your fears!
Anxiety: is normal! You are lost in an unfamiliar place and have never experienced this before. Anxiety can overwhelm you to the point where you become confused and makes it difficult for you to think clearly. Once this happens, it becomes more difficult for you to make good judgments and decisions.
Solution: Hug a tree. (its proven to calm you) Talk yourself throughout what you are feeling. Visualize yourself getting through it! Use this anxious energy to get things done like building a shelter, fire,and finding water. It is perfectly normal to be anxious and scared BUT when used in a healthy way, anxiety motivates you to act!
Anger and Frustration: You will have to complete tasks with minimal resources and this reality will most likely become frustrating. It is inevitable, something, if not everything, will go wrong and this is beyond your control. With your life, or that of someone else being at stake, every mistake feels magnified. A few moments of frustration can easily turn into anger.
Solution: The quicker you can cope with your frustrations and your new reality, the higher your chances of survival. Frustration and anger can encourage impulsive reactions, irrational behavior, poor decision making which can lead you to the “I quit” mentality. Use your emotional intensity to act in a productive manner! Transfer that energy into doing something. Just think about when you have a cold, if you sit around doing nothing, all you think about is how horrible you feel. By getting up and doing something, anything, your actions distract you from how you are feeling.
Depression: It is very normal to get sad when faced with the reality of survival. A frustrated person becomes more and more angry as he fails to reach his goals. If the anger does not help you to succeed, then the frustration level goes even higher, leading to depression. When a person reaches this point, he starts to give up! The focus goes from a proactive “What can I do” to “There is nothing I can do.” Depression is a feeling of hopelessness.
Solution: You can allow yourself to be sad momentarily. Do not let it consume you to the point where you want to give up easily. Think of your family, or anything that can raise your spirits because such thoughts can give you the desire to try harder and live one more day!
Boredom: With every task done (shelter building, water, fire built etc) Loneliness and boredom will overcome you. You don’t have board games, no television or Internet but that does not mean you cannot get creative!
Solution: You may discover some hidden talents and abilities as you continue to add neat inventions to your shelter, or build traps for catching food. You can create games by digging a hole and throwing stones into it from a distance. By doing something other than worrying,you develop a degree of self-sufficiency and confidence. Tap into your imagination and inner creativity. Who knows, you might even find a new strength you never knew you had.
Guilt: The circumstances leading to your survival situation are sometimes very dramatic! You were the only survivor and are questioning why you are the only one alive? It is common for survivors to feel guilty about being alive while others are dead. Acknowledge them these feeling but do not allow them to hinder you in surviving.
Solution: When used in a positive way, guilt can encourage you to work harder to survive! You are alive for some greater purpose in life that you may not understand at first. Whatever reason you give yourself, please do not allow any of these dark feelings to prevent you from living!!!!
Be Prepared: No one knows when (or IF) they will be in a survival situation but having the knowledge and tools ahead of time will strongly improve your chances of survival!
1)Education: Attend a Survival Wilderness Training program or workshops, read, practice and apply your new found knowledge to build confidence and strengthen your skills. Don’t forget, you have this in you already. Human beings used to live in the wilderness! By practicing wilderness survival, it will become second nature to you!
NEWS: The newly established PEAK SURVIVAL in Vermont is an excellent choice if you live in the Montreal, Vermont, New York, or Boston areas. If you enjoy longer road trips you should definitely check it out! Peaksurvival or write to peaksurvial@gmail.com
http://www.youtube.com/peaksurvival
