Surviving Crisis Situations - Will to Live is the First Step

In the modern world, true survival situations are rare to be sure. Political unrest, natural disasters, terrorism, or accidents can affect anyone, however. Your right to existence on this planet can be challenged at any time and in any place. The question is, what do you do then? What are you willing to do?

Surviving any crisis starts with your personal will to live. Anyone can pick up a book or take a class to learn self-defense or basic survival skills. The question you must ask yourself is whether or not you have the will to implement your training or skills when you need to. Can you do what it takes to survive?

It's easy to say that you can. It's another to actually know that you can do what it takes to live through any situation, no matter how terrible. You must be both willing and prepared to fight for your life.

No Matter What....Really?

People love to say that they would never do something "no matter what." They would never eat meat, they would never kill anyone, they would never (fill in anything here) no matter what. What if it meant your life or the life of a loved one?

Let's take a basic example. You are a nature lover out on a long hike alone. You get lost or stranded by weather, far from help with no hope of immediate rescue. Out of food and water, your only chance of survival is to say, eat some worms. Can you do it? What if you are a strict vegan? Can you do it now? What if you had to choose between death or clubbing a baby seal and eating it?

What if the enemy of your survival was not nature, but man? How many times have you heard someone say something to the effect that they "could never kill someone?" This is often the argument against gun ownership. After all, why have a gun if you "know" you could never shoot at another person? Would you let your refusal to accept the concept of violence against your fellow man decide your fate?

If the answer is yes, than not only will you die if that time ever comes, but you will deserve to die.

Obviously these are extreme examples, but survival is by its very nature an extreme situation. Whether you are stranded after a plane crash, a broken down car, or by simply getting lost while hiking, you must be prepared to use your will to survive and overcome taboos if you plan on living. If a knife or a gun is aimed in your direction and you have the chance to defeat that threat by doing grievous and possibly deadly harm to the wielder, you must either do that harm or surrender your life. Once your survival is on the line, you must prepare for extremes or you will not make it. Period.

Prepare Your Mind To Survive

Once you have accepted the concept that you will have to go to unusual lengths if your life is ever on the line, then that is only the beginning. You must then train yourself mentally to anticipate situations where you could be in danger and prepare to deal with them.

Everyone does this on a small scale during every day of a normal life. You realize you could slip on an icy sidewalk, so you are more careful when walking on one. You know that a car could run you over, so you look both ways before you step off the curb. See how easy it is? Yet people are always in shock when a crisis hits because they have not thought things through ahead of time.

Why, if you are going on a long drive through a remote area, would you not think about what would happen if you got lost or your car broke down? If you are taking a cruise, how much time do you spend preparing to survive in the water in case the ship were to go down? Have you really ever thought how you would react if you were in a restaurant and a psychotic nut job started shooting up the place?

I have, because I want to live. You probably want to live too, so why haven't you done it? Again, these are extreme situations, but that's when you need to be prepared most, isn't it?

We had a rule in the Army which said that you must train as you fight, because you will fight as you train. Another saying was that the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. They are both right, and they both apply to everything in life...or the preparation to preserve it. You must mentally prepare to survive, so that if you are ever called on to do so you will react with a trained reflex and a practiced (at least mentally) drill.

For example, I have a routine for restaurants that I learned while living in Berlin when terrorism was always a threat. I always sit in a booth. Anyone coming to my table can only approach from one direction. I almost always put by back to a wall or divider, so that I can see everything going on without turning around. I keep a casual note of people coming and going.

I always note the exits, including going through the kitchen if necessary. In the event of an earthquake, fire, or God forbid a robbery or mass shooting, when everyone else is stampeding over each other on the way to the marked exits, my wife and I will be calmly but quickly proceeding through the kitchen and out the delivery entrance or out the most obscure emergency exit. I don't care if the cooks object to my presence because I want to get out of the restaurant alive more than I care about a trespassing charge.

I do this because I know that if an immediate crisis develops, there will not be time to think things over. I will have to react with the speed and certainty that only repetitive training can provide. So I train my mind to be ready. You should too.

Take Out Insurance On Your Survival

Think of it as insurance. It's something you hope you will never need, but are sure glad you have when somebody t-bones your brand new car or your house burns down because Johnny thought he was a big boy and tried to cook you Mother's Day breakfast. When the worst thing comes, you say "well, it least we have insurance."

Have you taken out insurance that covers your ability to survive a life-threatening situation? Why not? You do want to live, don't you?

If fate ever asks that question, being prepared to answer it forcefully and with certainty is the first step.