Table of Contents
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SURVIVAL
It happens to thousands of people every year, and it could just as easily happen to you. Your airplane goes down in the wilderness; or the train youre riding derails miles from the nearest junction; or your car breaks down in the desert; or you get lost while hiking in the woods; or a snowstorm strands you in the mountains unprepared ... the possibilities are endless.
In any case, you may survive the initial trauma event only to quickly realize that you are now in a terrible, dangerous predicament. Its possible that everyone who was with you has died, including your spouse, child, or friend; or maybe some have also survived. Its likely that you or others have sustained bad injuries. You may find that you have little-to-no resources availableno food or water, no tools, no communication device, and no clue where you are or how to get to someplace safe. But the biggest question of all is whether or not you will be able to handle the reality of the situation in your head and heart: Do you have the will to survive?
This book is for anyone who would hope to be prepared should they find themselves in such dire straits. The general survival situation I talk about inside this book is the kind that no one chooses to place themselves intoin other words, this is not for hikers or mountaineers or skilled outdoorsmen. And the information and skills I provide are meant to be grasped and applied by anyone. By far the most important factor in anyones survival in these cases is not only the topic of this first chapter, but it is something that anyone can develop and carry with them at all times. That is, a strong psychology for survivalthe will to live.
You must say this right nowI will do everything and anything it takes to stay alive and to keep going with every ounce of my physical and spiritual energy, until I get back home and into the hearts of the ones I love.
I am telling you right now that this is the single most important lesson in this book: Never quit!
Preparation at Fort Living Room
The general rules of life clearly state that if youre ready for something, it wont happen; and if you aint ready, it sure will happen! This phenomenon is sometimes called Murphys Law (or Sods Law in the UK) and I have found that it also translates perfectly into Hawkes Law of Survival. So when I travel, I always have a little chuckle to myself thinking, If this plane goes down and anyone survives, it probably wont be me, but rather someone who wouldnt even know how to use half my travel survival kit, providing they even thought to look for it, haha! Ill be the dead guy with all the handy stuff on his body, so search me well if you happen to be on my flight!
Okay, this gives you a feel for my sense of humor. Youll see that I apply it throughout the book, and heck, throughout my life for that matter. Youd be surprised at how a sense of humor can benefit you in the worst of situations. Look at it like this: itd be pretty funny to survive a plane crash or boat sinking, and then die from lack of food or water! But look at the upsideeither way, if you die fast, theres no suffering; if you die of starvation or exposure, well, at least you had time to make peace with your maker. You see, either way and in all things, I suggest you always look for the positive, and dont dwell on the negative any more than you need to in order to identify it and learn not to repeat whatever caused it. If something youre doing or thinking aint fixing or improving your situation, its wasting your time. And the clock is always ticking towards your death, so dont squander one moment in unproductive depression or self-pity or any of the other things that only serve to drain your energy without benefit.
Now, dont get me wrong: of course you should take some timeafter youve done all you can to handle the immediate disaster and are having a well-deserved and well-timed breakto give things a think, even have a cry. This is healthy if controlled, and even necessary for your psyche. We must mourn if we experienced loss, and usually with a survival situation, there is loss. And accept the possibility that more anguish may be on the wayotherwise, you will fear it, and fear will beat you down faster than anything and spread like a virus. It will consume you in a heartbeat and even spread to others very quickly if youre in a group.
That is why combat commanders cannot tolerate fear in the ranks. Fear is that dangerous, and you should view fear as your worst enemy in any survival situation. The way we as commanders manage it, is to keep the troops busy and productive. All that apparent busywork that soldiers always seem to be doing has a purposecommanders are making sure the men dont have time for fear to set in. You should do the same.
You see, most fear is a result of ignorance; its a fear of the unknown. By sitting down in Fort Living Room, right now, learning techniques and gaining confidence in your knowledge of what to do, you are putting yourself in a better position to handle a survival situation when youre in a real hurt box.
Now, reading and thinking about it is better than nothing, but nothing is better than hands-on experience when it comes to the survival arts. So get prepared by reading this book, trying many of the skills and techniques within, getting good at the ones that feel most natural to you, and practicing them every once in a while. This will give you the hard skills and confidence that will keep you prepared for anything. And that is the number-one way to fight fearto know what to do.
No matter whether you are a man, woman, child, old, young, fit, or even disabledI dont give a rats butt, franklyyou can make it as long as you work on your basics, know what you want to live for, and never quit. Heart, Mind, and Skills (in that order!) vanquish fear. This is the key to survival.
The most important skill you can have and develop is simply good old-fashioned common sense. And before we get into what it takes to be prepared, lets talk for a moment about not being prepared. As in Murphys Law of combat, youll likely find yourself in a survival situation right on the day you decide to go to the store to buy a bunch of survival stuff!
Ultimately you need to be mentally prepared for the harsh realties of surviving. Death is real and a real possibility always. The key is, if you find yourself in a bad situation and you have nothing: Then you are surviving!
When you have nothing, this commitment is all you have, and, more times than not, this can actually be enough. You dont stop to think and let the fear get a grip, you just keep driving on and never quit. Keeping a grip on ones courage has carried countless many through almost certain death in battle, and so it can serve you, too, in the battle for survival. I cannot repeat or stress enough the mantra: Never quit!
Of course the survival situation is quite a different reality than that of the combat soldier. However, the potential end result is the same. Dead is dead. And it is in this way that the psychology of survival is applicable both to soldiers and survivors.
Tools & Toys
Obviously, most survival scenarios happen instantly and without warning, so its unlikely that you will have any tools at all on your person to help you through. Or is it?
