How to Prepare Yourself to Survive
Have you ever heard a person tell their story of survival? Perhaps the boat they were on sank, but they were lucky enough to escape before it completely went under. Or maybe their plane crashed and they were the only survivor from the flight. It may have been a case of skiing in the winter, and getting trapped by tremendous amounts of snow.
Whatever the case is, these stories are incredible. Not only did these people have to survive the tragedy, but they also had to survive until they were found. Here we will take a look at what it takes to prepare yourself to survive in one of these situations.
What Does Survival Really Mean?
Survival means an individual is able to control their fears in a time that they do not have any control of. They will develop a mindset after the fight or flight response comes into play and will manage their emotions in order to get through the ordeal. While these individuals may have had the skills needed to survive, they most likely also had a good mental attitude that assisted the most in whatever situation they were in.
Maintaining a Positive Mental Attitude
I can not tell you how important it is to maintain a positive mental attitude while in difficult situations. It can be very hard to do, but if you practice having a positive attitude in life every day, this can help. By allowing your mental attitude to stay positive, you do not bring yourself down. Or others that are with you. Imagine if you are stranded in temperatures that are freezing.
If you have the mindset that there is nothing that you can do, and you are going to die, this will rub off onto others in your group. Instead, be a cheerleader for everyone in your group. You can get through any situation if you put your mind to it.
Do not let fear creep up on you. Survival situations can be very stressful and full of fear, but if you let fear take over, you are going to lose. Once fear takes over, you are not able to act how you should.
When disaster strikes, never panic. While this is natural for most people to do, keeping your cool will help you to prevail. Keep a clear mind. Have a goal to focus on. It helps to say this goal to yourself as a mantra in order to stay on task.
Being positive also means taking responsibility for what is happening. It is not God’s fault or your friend’s for asking you to go. It is not your parent’s fault for making you go. At this point, none of that matters. All that matters is that you take responsibility for what the outcome will be.
Homo Sapiens Survival Traits
We have developed traits that our ancestors have had that can help us to survive in situations such as the ones listed above. The following are all genes that we have inherited.
- Adaptability: Our ancestors lived during the global cooling period, and scientists really believe the reason they survived was because they were able to adapt to it. In Africa, there were various skulls that were excavated that belonged in the same era of time. This doesn’t prove there were different species of humans at that time. Only 200,000 years were covered in this study, and it appears there were only four species that were alive during this period. According to this one species theory, the human species have a natural ability to adapt to their surroundings in both physical appearances and abilities. Today, with mental and physical training, this can be done.
- Food choice diversity: One way that expects have found that our ancestors have survived was due to their diverse diet due to the environment changing all the time. If there were low meat supplies, our ancestors could eat off the vegetation. They used their primitive hunting tools to hunt any animals they were able to find. As the diet was adaptable, they were able to find enough food to meet their calorie needs. As the environment was changing, so were the sources of energy.
- Community building: The human brain has evolved in size over time. However, it took 2 million years to get that way. You can be a “social hunter” from the brain that was handed down from your ancestors. We as a whole can survive because we can build strong communities. Everyone has a skill that they are good at as not everyone can be a “jack of all trades”.
- Fight or Flight: Everyone has this natural survival mode in their body. If our brain detects danger, a signal is produced to give a burst of energy. This response can be responsible for giving you means to protect yourself from danger in certain situations.
Traits That Survivors Have
There are characteristics that survivors have that normal humans do not have. These include:
- Composure: When a boost of energy is produced during the fight or flight response, irrational decisions are often made. Many will overestimate what can be done while others create a bigger problem. A survivor will already know how to handle the situation and will make the best use of the extra surge of energy from the fight or flight mode. He remains calm at all times, planning his moves before making them.
- Perseverance: Patience and faith are often needed in survival mode. In many situations, survivors have had to spend days or weeks in situations.
- Self-confidence: Believing in yourself and taking responsibility are a huge tribute to being a survivor. Tell yourself you will be a survivor in order to be a survivor.
- Positivity: Survivors learn to take the experience life dealt them and make something positive out of it.
Catastrophe Vs. Disease Survival
Catastrophe survivors may include those that have survived living in the woods for a week after being lost on a hiking trip or someone who was stranded in the mountains after an avalanche. Disease survivors are those that survive various forms of illness, such as cancer. Scientists are stating that up to half of all cancer cases could have been avoided if there had been a change in lifestyle. Here are some of the differences between the two of them.
- In catastrophe survival, it is short term. It is a few days, weeks, or months. However, in disease survival, it is long term and could be years. Your lifestyle will need to be completely redone in many cases, while in catastrophe, your lifestyle will only change while the disaster is happening.
- Once the situation goes away for catastrophe, you can live a normal life. You may have some psychological issues, but time can often help make this better. With disease survival, you will be a part of this population if you have this in your genes.
Survival Advice
The best piece of advice that I can offer you should you ever be in a situation where it is life or death is to stay positive. Repeat to yourself that you will be a survivor. Keep faith and hope and fight with all your might. You can do it if you have the right mindset.
Rob A. Hodge, Founder of Primate360. I started this site in 2019 for people who want to learn about Fitness, Survival and Healthy Living in general from people who actually have experience in these fields and succeeded in them. I’m here to help you get results. I will let you know what actually works and what doesn’t, everything is result oriented, Period