Notes on: The Will to Survive
0. Intro
Many survival case histories show that stubborn, strong willpower can conquer many obstacles. One case history tells of a man stranded in the desert for eight days with no food or water; he had no survival training and he did nothing right. But he wanted to survive and through sheer willpower, he did survive.
With training and equipment and the will to survive, you will find you can overcome any obstacle you may face. You will survive.
1. Prepping for survival
Two things you can do now in preparation of survival are to train for survival in different environments and learn about the area where you are going. Solid general survival skills will be of vital importance as well. Learning how to find food and water, how to make a shelter, find your direction and how to travel through differing terrain are all important survival skills. Learning to be healthy and to maintain a healthy body, avoid environmental hazards and doctor yourself are also important. Most important is knowing when rest is more valuable than speed. Plan carefully and do not make hasty ill thought out decisions.
Learning about the natives in the area where you expect to go is encouraged. Knowing their customs and being courteous by their standards you may be able to get their help if its needed.
Knowing these things may be useful but all are useless without a will to survive. Accepting the possibility of a survival situation and understanding that you may have minimum equipment is paramount to the survival attitude. This situation could come without warning and you must be prepared even if its only mentally. If you can go to a survival school or take a class at your local wildlife reserve. The training will give you a boost in confidence and remove any doubt as to your personal ability and stamina.
2. Survival Stresses
Survival is nor only a physical trial but also an emotional one. You must understand the emotional states associated with survival just as you must understand survival conditions and equipment. In a survival situation your companions are the most important element of determining success or failure. Its important to think about the following especially if they are things you never thought about before:
-How do I react to various situations?
-What do the various signs, feelings, expressions and reactions in others and myself mean?
-What are my tolerances to different mental and physical stresses?
-How can I maintain and use my abilities effectively to perform and to control myself?
-How can I influence my companions in a way that benefits all of us?
Knowing these things, knowing yourself, is extremely important in a survival situation and directly effects your ability to cope with different stresses such as pain, anxiety and fear, injury or illness, cold and heat, thirst, hunger, fatigue, sleep deprivation, boredom, loneliness and isolation.
Your body has various reaction mechanisms that may help you in survival situations such as adrenaline. These mechanisms can also betray you however. For instance your normal reaction to hunger may cause you to cast reason aside and go foraging for food in unsafe conditions. The two gravest general dangers to survival are the desire for comfort and a passive outlook. It is of vital importance that you recognize the dangers these attitudes represent and how they may overrule your effort or desire to cope with stress.
To overcome the desire for comfort one must change the way they think about comfort. The key to this change is reasoning. Compare your present discomfort with the discomfort of being in poor health, not having food or water or shelter. Essentially think along the lines of "even though my situation is uncomfortable it could be much worse". Knowing how much discomfort you can take and understanding your demand for comfort will help you carry on. Comfort is not essential!
To avoid the second danger of passive outlook you should know what can cause this condition. The physical causes of passive outlook are things like exhaustion due to prolonged exposure to the cold, dehydration, fatigue, weakness and illness. With proper planning and sound decisions almost all of these can be avoided. A lack of will to keep trying will also result in a passive outlook. Lethargy, mental numbness and indifference may slowly creep in but they can suddenly take over and leave you helpless. Recognizing the onset of a passive outlook in a companion is important. the first signs are an air of resignation, quietness, lack of communication, loss of appetite and withdraw from the group. The best way to deal with a passive outlook is to stop or counter the physical and mental stresses that produce it.
The following are enemies of survival. They are common physical and mental stresses that will impact your ability to survive:
-Pain. Pain can be tolerated with correct understanding. It simply tells you you have an injury and in itself is not harmful. If you let it pain will get the best of you.
-Cold
-Heat
-Thirst
-Hunger
-Fatigue
-Boredom
-Loneliness
You have been developing self sufficiency all your life. You learned how to do things yourself, and be comfortable while alone. In a survival situation it is important to be self sufficient. Your self sufficiency can be increased with practice. Use your self sufficiency to learn and accept the reality of a situation or emergency then take suitable action. This is one of the most important psychological requirement for survival. Don't sit and worry, stay busy.
3. Attitude and Personal Qualities
It is important to have a survival attitude for whatever may occur. Mental and actual rehearsal or practice of emergency procedures preares a person to take automatic action. A person without a positive mental attitude may panic under dire circumstances.
Personality also play an important role in survival. The following qualities are important to survival:
-Being able to make up your mind
-Being able to improvise
-Being able to live with yourself
-Being able to adapt to the situation, make a good thing out of a bad thing
-Remaining cool calm and collected
-Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst
-Having patience
-Being prepared to meet the worst that can happen
-Being able to figure out or gauge others
-Understanding where your special fears or worries come from and knowing how to control them.
4. Survival Actions
You can reduce and overcome the shock of being isolated and in a survival situation if you keep the key word S-U-R-V-I-V-A-L foremost in your mind. Its letters can help guide your actions:
S - Size up! This applies to the situation, the surroundings, your physical conditions and equipment.
U - Undue haste makes waste.
R - Remember where you are. Try to relate your own position to your surrounding
V - Vanquish fear and panic.
I - Improvise. Your imagination is a tool. Use it.
V - Value living
A - Act like the natives. This doesn't just mean the people natives. What is the wildlife doing?
L - Live by your wits, but for now, learn basic skills.
5. Pattern for survival.
With training and experience you will form a pattern for survival. This pattern must include food, water, shelter, fire, first aid, and signals placed in order of importance. If you are injured first aid has top priority no matter the climate. Your pattern of survival will also change to suit your immediate needs.
