The Survival Equation
The survival equation is a remarkably simple one. Find something to eat and drink, protect yourself from the elements, avoid the hazards of the wilderness, and find your way back to civilization. Really, that is pretty much it. Just about everyone throughout history who has had to survive followed that basic formula. Yet for all its simplicity, each one of these tasks is incredibly problematic and complex in its resolution. Survival forces us to face questions that we don’t always recognize and in many instances do not even comprehend the full scope and breadth of the challenge. Questions where each and every one of them can be a life or death decision. Questions where no answer is certain, only unfolding. Much like our daily lives, survival is an incredibly complex set of choices.
And these choices are progressively limiting. They are limited by our circumstances, like when and where we find ourselves. Surviving the frozen tundra in February is worlds apart from surviving the prairie in August or the tropical jungles during monsoon season. They are limited by what we have with us. Do we have supplies, pure water, food, sufficient clothing for the environment we face? What is our present state, have we eaten recently or do we have injuries or wounds that require treatment? Each of these, in its own right, is a survival game changer.
Which leads us to a very simple fact. No matter what we have in our pockets, no matter how prepared we think we are for the task before us, it is what is in our heads and how we use it that makes the difference in surviving or not surviving. It is really that simple. History is replete with examples of people who have failed to survive with ample supplies or met their end by failing to use or improperly using the very tools that were there for their survival. The Donner party’s incessant chain of bad choices led to their cannibalistic demise just as the Lost Colony’s failure to secure themselves from the natives resulted their being carried off into historical oblivion. Both groups had the tools they needed to avoid disaster. Both groups had ample supplies to survive what they set out to do. Yet both groups failed. I can have all “the stuff” and “all there is to know” to survive but at the end of the day, it is my thinking that will make the difference.
A Survival Attitude
There is this very small thing within us that governs how we think, our attitude. It is the gatekeeper to our mind and all that it contains. We all know how attitude affects our daily performance at work, how we engage the issues of life, how we deal with traffic, even our relationships are affected by this little thing known as our attitude. It affects how we perceive the world around us, how we assimilate it within our mind, and how we decide to respond to each and every encounter. And the survival scenario is no different, attitude affects it coming and going. At the end of the trail, it is your attitude that will keep you alive and well, or get you dead, needlessly.
The first place attitude will make a difference is in your deciding that you will get your tail back home safely. That is the single most important choice you will make. Establishing in your mind the objective of getting home with the condition of doing it safely sets the framework for every subsequent decision you will make. Yeah, you may get home missing some limbs and let’s face it, in some circumstances that may be a necessity, but let it be a necessity of your choosing, not happenstance. The key, first and foremost is to GET HOME. The second overriding priority is to do it as safely as possible.
“Let’s see now, there are some falls down stream of this fast running river. Should I go ahead and cross here or should I scout out the falls and see if there is a more placid crossing downriver?” The answer is “yup.” Why risk crossing a river and getting swept over a falls when you can take the extra steps downstream and cross through still waters? There is no good reason not to but there are some out there with an attitude of “ain’t no hill for a climber” when in reality the attitude is “I’m okay with unnecessary risks.” I don’t know how many of you have shot some mild falls in canoes and got spilled in the midst but it is very easy to get a foot caught between some rocks or bang your head on something that is much harder than your noggin. Or dislocate an elbow or shoulder. It is your choice but your attitude can and does prevent all of these risks.
Just as attitude affects my decisions, it also affects my perceptions. How I see the world before me, how I assimilate my circumstances, how I size up my situation are all governed by the attitude that presently prevails within my mind. That storm that I saw and heard in the distant mountains means there will be water coming through this wash soon. Absorbing that fact allows me to make preparations to gather water for the trip ahead. And it also affords the caution to make sure that I camp far enough away that I don’t get washed away when it comes.
Attitude makes a big difference in how I use the tools and resources at hand. It is my attitude that will cause me to analyze whether or not to use the water purification tabs when my ability to make a fire and boil water is almost as handy. Knowing that I can keep the tabs in reserve, take the time to boil the water. Attitude helps you to discern between what is reusable, like your tools, and what is expendable, like the tabs. Once they are gone, they are gone, and there I am. Attitude helps me to exercise the self discipline to preserve the expendables.
Likewise, it is my attitude that gives me that degree of caution when I take that very sharp knife out of its sheath and begin hacking away at the wild kingdom that surrounds me. How many of us have gotten a new knife and promptly went out and cut ourselves with it? That can be a game changer in the wilderness. Bloodying up the place is bad for you and it attracts predators. An attitude of caution goes miles to keeping that knife pointed the right way. Knowing these differences will affect the quality of your decisions and how you use your resources.
One more thing to touch on before we close. A survival attitude is something that should not wait for when I find myself in a survival situation. How many times have you walked down a street, sensed a prospective threat from a group, crossed the street and went safely on your way? Or you were at a bar and Mr. Two Drinks and Let’s Fight sits down next to you? More often than not, you move. These are all survival skills that we employ in our daily lives. Just because the environment changes, it does not mean these inputs become subjugated.
As you go through your daily life, take some time to notice the world around you. Take note of what may be seen in that open dumpster or laying in a back alley. See the “grey people” in the urban environs, the homeless. They wear a form of urban camouflage that is much akin to what nature does with many animals. “See” the world you are living in, pay attention to detail, make it a habit.
It is these same skills of observation and attention to detail that will allow you to see that copperhead in the leaves before you reach down for that pine cone or help you to notice that rotten log loaded with nutritious grubs just waiting for you to come by and have an easy and safe meal. It is these daily disciplines that will translate naturally into your behavior when your surroundings and circumstances change suddenly and you have “only you” to get home safely.
When I went to SEER school (Survival, Escape, Evasion, Resistance) back in the day, they had an acrostic that at the time seemed a tad hokey. Having made it through the program and having personally gone through one wilderness survival experience, I have over time gained an appreciation for it that I would have in no other way would have. I include it here as I would be remiss not to. It comes from FM 21-76…
S-Size up the situation
U- Use all your senses, undo haste makes waste
R-Remember where you are
V-Vanquish fear and panic
I-Improvise
V-Value living
A-Act like the natives
L-Live by your wits (but for now) Learn basic skills
I know, it seems trite. All I can say is that from personal experience, every one of those points makes a difference. It is by no means totally complete, but then in a survival situation, no text is. The fact of the matter is this, once you commit your mind to an attitude of survival, the battle is 90% won. From that point forward, it most likely a case of “how well” you will survive…
