Learn Essential Survival Skill: Mindset of Staying Alive

Staying alive in a life threatening survival situation should be your one and only goal. This is why it is extremely important to remain focused and maintain calm regardless whatever the situation is.

When you find yourself in a situation where you literally have to fight for yourself to stay alive, it is difficult. But, that is what survival situations call for. They call for a person to get rid of any emotions that may interfere with good decision-making, such as doubt, fear, frustration, anxiety, depression and anger.

These emotions in no way can be helpful. In a survival situation, you have to gather every ounce of courage, strength and confidence just to make it through a day. You have to dispel every negative emotion and thought, because this is when you have to beat all odds to stay alive. Of course, it is easier said than done. But, if you do not cultivate a positive mindset, then there is no way can you help yourself or others.

Will to stay alive is somewhat build-in humans, and animals. However, adversities could be so hard that even strongest minds start to crumble. So how do you cultivate a positive survival mindset of staying alive? Actually survival mind set and mindset of staying alive consists multiple things. Let´s take a look on what you need to focus when a real hardship strikes.

Gather Yourself

Pull yourself together and fortify your stronger attributes. Develop qualities that can help you survive and try to get rid of any negative thoughts and emotions. Keep calm and focused, so that you are able to make good decisions. Monitor your thoughts and emotions as well.

You also need to have the will to survive. You have to be prepared to do anything and everything to stay alive. The following is an extreme example what it might require. On the 13th of October 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force plane crashed in the Andean Mountains. In total, there were 45 people on board. Out of the 45, only 16 of them survived. For 72 days, the remaining members of flight 571 faced unimaginable challenges and had to do unimaginable things to stay alive. Believe it or not, after all their food was gone, the 16 remaining survivors collectively agreed to eat the flesh of their dead friends to stay alive. They also trekked through the treacherous mountain in the freezing cold and deep snow for 10-days before they were finally rescued. They had the will to live and they did whatever it took to stay alive. They had to make extremely difficult decisions. But when you are in a such situation, you have to make hard decisions – or die.

Become motivated To Survive

It is quite hard to stay motivated in a survival situation. But, in our everyday lives, there is always that something or someone that motivates each one of us to help us achieve a certain goal. It is the same thing in a survival situation, your motivation could be the intense desire to see your loved ones again or the desperate need to get yourself out of that situation, whatever it is, if you are motivated enough, your chances of survival are quite high. Even if everything seems to be lost, try find some motivation. Think outside of box. If nothing more, get motivated to see the next beautiful sun rise!

Be Realistic about The Situation

There is a popular saying that says “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” There is nothing wrong with being hopeful, but you cannot just sit around doing nothing to help yourself in hope that someone will come along and rescue you. In more cases than not, that never happens. You need to overcome your fears and face the situation. Avoid having unrealistic expectations because when they do not materialize, you are likely to crash and burn. So set realistic expectations and simply hope for the best. This way, even though things do not work out the way you had hoped they would, you will be disappointed, but not to the point of despair.

Develop a positive survival attitude

Have you ever been an extremely difficult situation; you are frustrated and angry, and somebody tells you to stay positive instead of giving offering a solution? At that very moment when those words leave their lips, honestly, you just want to throw something at them because you are so irritated. You feel like this person is just trying to piss you off, but in reality, they are encouraging you. The fast is, developing a positive attitude in the most difficult of situations can help you find solutions more quickly than when you are just stewing in your anger and doing nothing.

When we are angry and frustrated we become self-destructive. We become irrational, and we make poor decisions because the negative emotions have already taken over. It takes a great deal of mental strength to develop a positive attitude, but at the end of it, it will be well worth it.

Manage your stress

Survival situations are stressful situations. You might have for example to constantly think about where to find food and water. There is shelter and security to think about and believe me, when you are in the wilderness, you will worry about your safety and where you are going to sleep. All of these can cause a lot of stress. So you have to find ways to manage the stress. You can use some stress management techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation to help you relax. Also, by planning yourself better, you become less stressed.

Do not stay in one place – keep moving!

Remember that you are not just trying to stay alive, you are want to get out of survival situation if that’s possible. There is always that intense need and desire to find safety. To be back home with your loved ones or to be in a safe place with other people. If want to get out of the survival situation, you might have to be on the move, constantly. If you keep moving, you may discover safer places to camp, cleaner water to drink, better food options and you may even find other people who can help you out.

Moving gives you also something to do, and leaves less time for thinking depressive things. Even if there is no way out of the actual situation, moving around gives you information what is in the area, and keeps also your mind busy.

If you remain in one place hoping that someone will show up, you may have wait a very long time, sometimes too long.

Have a sense of humor and find positive things

As difficult as it may be, having a sense of humor in a survival situation, reduces tension. Laughing can help you make good decisions and help you get rid of any negative emotions. If you think a bit, you will notice that there are something unexpected good even in the worst situations. Try to find those small positive things!

Now you are aware of mental things that are dangerous, just being aware of those helps to keep depressive feeling under control. Learn to monitor your thoughts and emotions continuously. You could also train your mind for SHTF situations learning to manage stress, and developing generally positive mind.

Have you been in hard situation that tested your mindset? How you are preparing mentally for SHTF? If you have any questions or comments post them below, thank you!