Have you ever wondered why in disasters or crisis situations, where people all face the same circumstances, there are some who pass by, while others are being roasted?
Skills and preparedness are of course reasons, but not as much as the mental attitude! A survivor mentality can often make the difference between life and death.
There is a time for everything and a moment for everything under heaven; A time to be nice, and a time to be mean …
From victim to victory
When you are caught in the midst of trouble and want to come out alive, you must be wicked. It does not matter if these bumps are the result of a civil war, an earthquake, or a crowd of zombies banging at your door; The truth is that it is often the most tough “son of the bitch” who will find himself at the top of the list of survivors.
Before I see my words misinterpreted, a clear distinction must be made between hard-boiled and stupid. The real hard is not someone who wears leather and chains or wears a panoply of tattoos, just to impress the gallery. A tough guy is not a tyrant. A tough guy does not break anything, and does not fire garbage or cars just for fun; However, Is not someone who fights only because he likes it. All these things are the expression of the looser lacking recognition and the idiot.
Being hard is quite different. A real hard man knows that he (or she) is mean, and has no need to prove it to anyone.
A real hard-to-cook never fails. Never. The real hard ones will always go to the end of themselves, no matter what turn events take.
A tough guy can be your best friend, or your worst enemy; He will not profit from the weak, and will always be kind and generous to those who deserve it.
Real hard cooks will do whatever it takes to survive, knowing their limits. They are not wankers in the week; They know that they are as hard as nails, but if you burn their cars or spit on them, then you will most likely die, as true as if you were jumping from the top floor of a building.
A tough guy does not try to make enemies, nor cause the fight. A tough guy knows that the easiest way to win a fight is to avoid it. A tough guy never bears the first shot, but on the other hand, he will always wear the last.
Undoubtedly the majority of the men of the elite troops are real hard. But I also knew 79-year-old grandmothers who were so. Everything is in the attitude.
Mental preparation for dealing with a crisis is as important as any piece of equipment, skill or technique described in survival manuals. A generation or two ago, being ready meant far more than knowing the basics of camping; It was a way of life. Our grandparents knew that it was reasonable to expect the unexpected, and prepare for it. Today your friends and family will probably take you for a madman if they talk about the need for reserves, as well as a plan for emergencies.
The reason is that the new generations have become a complacent band of whiners. We have benefited from continuous technical progress making life easier, and enjoying long periods of relative financial ease. No doubt few of you, or your neighbors, have any problem with the supply of essential goods or services. We look at the headlines – a terrible disaster in Japan or in Haiti – and we say that it is very sad; But also, somewhere, that this can not happen to us. All this can happen perfectly. And the sooner one prepares oneself in spirit, the faster one will be able to do it in all the other aspects.
You have all surely heard of incredible survival adventures; For example, the one experienced by members of the Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes in 1972, and what they were forced to do to survive. We even shot some movies. But in the same way that there is no need for a major disaster to be in a desperate situation, not all survival stories become headlines. There are hundreds, thousands, that arrive every day throughout the world.
Like this 62-year-old grandmother who in 2009 survived 11 days without eating at the bottom of a ravine after getting lost in the Spanish Pyrenees. Teresa Bordais was found virtually unscathed despite the fact that she had eaten nothing for more than 10 days. She explained to the rescuers that she had managed to sip some water and observed the birds in the way of feeding and then eat a few leaves of shrubs.
Or that 71-year-old armed grandfather who in the United States brought down two criminals in their van after they attacked the internet cafe where the old gentleman was enjoying his cup of coffee.
Whether or not their story became legendary, these people all had in common the determination, the will not to be a victim. They have all said to themselves , even to cry out loudly: I DO NOT WANT TO DIE TODAY.
And this has more to do with attitude than with any training that they could have followed, They could have had in their possession.
Survival is a state of mind; Your mind is your most powerful survival tool!
It is not always the person with the greatest physical abilities who is best placed to face an emergency and who will survive. In such a case, being able to think clearly is an even greater force. And this is valid for any extreme situation, whether after a natural disaster, or facing street gangs. Knowing how to keep a cool head is the key .
It has been proven over and over how much the mind and the emotional are more important than the physical in survival situations. You can possess the strength of an Olympic champion and the best equipment on the market, but they will be useless if you let fear and stress invade you – or if you sink into despair or negativity.
Surviving means solving problems, and that means BEING ABLE TO THINK !
You must be able to recognize the perils that threaten you, determine their priority, and their dangerousness . Then you must be able to carry out the necessary actions to keep you alive. C ‘ Is a physiologically proven fact that when you are calm, your brain can then analyze the information more effectively, and solve the problems in a more efficient manner – This is what “clear thinking” means.
In tactical training, you will learn that stress can inspire you to carry out certain operations, and help you do so at your highest level of practice. But you will also be told that stress can cause the best soldier to panic and forget all his training.
The key to your own survival lies in your ability to handle the stress you will necessarily encounter in an emergency. You are a survivor when you work with stress, Instead of letting stress work against you . In a real survival situation, the biggest enemies are fear and panic . These two emotions lead one to react according to one’s feelings and imagination, instead of the realities of the situation. If you can not control them, they can destroy your ability to make intelligent decisions.
Special Forces are taught to ban fear and panic through appropriate training, and self-confidence. But there is no need for military training to accomplish such a thing. What you need is basic training in defense and survival skills, but most importantly, The confidence that comes from knowing that your life may be in danger, and what to do if necessary .
When preparing for a disaster, always keep in mind that it does not need to be a major disaster or an earthquake to quickly ’emergency. As the saying on the other side of the Atlantic says, “Shit Happens” (shit, it happens …); A power cut, a climatic whim, a car breakdown – or even a path taken in the place of another – and you can then find yourself in a dangerous or unknown environment. Always bear in mind that it does not need to be a major disaster or an earthquake to quickly find itself in an emergency. As the saying on the other side of the Atlantic says, “Shit Happens” (shit, it happens …);
Change your attitude
Think of the biggest mental challenge you have faced in your life … In a survival situation you will be faced with much worse challenges and problems . Your mental attitude will be your greatest strength, or your greatest weakness. You will have to fight your emotions and negative thoughts, and defeat your biggest fears. You will never be pushed as far as the boundaries of your “comfort zone”.
Modern society has conditioned our minds so that it expects to get instant calm at any uncomfortable event. If it is dark, simply press a switch; If you’re hungry, just open the fridge; If you’re cold, you turn on the heater. But such conditioning can also be discarded. The human brain has a remarkable ability to adapt. Everyone can, by dint of will and conscience, turn away from his harmful habits and recover the spirit that will always make him hope for the best, while preparing for the worst.
Fear is a typically human emotion. It is a natural reaction to a crisis. There is not a single warfighter, only one police officer, Fireman – or anyone you might consider brave – who would tell you that he was not afraid in combat or any other situation of life or death. The definition of courage is not the absence of fear, but the acceptance and the ability to use it in a positive way whenever one can, and surpass it when circumstances require it.
More problematic than fear, is panic. Stated in a simple way – in survival situations, panic is deadly . Panic is an uncontrolled need to forget everything and run as far as possible from danger; A lack of confidence, not knowing what to do, and let the imagination take over. It is powered by stress, Itself caused by the fear of the unknown.
Which brings us all to this: You might never be able to control the circumstances that placed you in a survival situation, but what you can ALWAYS do is control your reactions to this situation .
Fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, guilt, depression, and loneliness are all possible reactions to the usual stressors of survival. These reactions, when adequately controlled, sharpen our desire to survive.
Being able to control stress and avoid panic will increase your ability to keep calm, stay focused, and will keep you and your loved ones during the crisis. Learn relaxation techniques, Assertiveness, and maintaining a positive attitude will help you.
One of the techniques taught to soldiers to manage stress in combat and in other situations of life or death can be summarized by the acronym “AIM”: Anticipate – Identify – Manager.
- Anticipate anxiety and problems that may arise . Do not pretend that we are not afraid. Begin to think about what would scare us the most if we were to face a situation of survival or a violent confrontation; Then practice in areas where personal flaws would be evident. The goal is not to eliminate fear, but to build confidence in one’s ability to function despite one’s fears ;
- Identify disturbing or stressful thoughts that could be the cause of future anxiety. Do not be afraid to make an honest assessment of situations. Follow the saying: “Expect the best, prepare for the worst”;
- Manage emotional responses using controlled breathing and internal speech (autosuggestion), so that our coping skills remain as strong as possible, and that we can continue to focus on the tasks that deserve our attention .
Our greatest power over panic is the trust that comes from the level of readiness that can be achieved by following the advice that is available in books or the various survival sites such as PrepperTidbits .
I have no doubt that most of my readers have the right mental attitude to go through a major crisis, even though many may have never lived with them in their lives. For the rest, it is to be feared that the impossible satisfaction of the “All, at once” so dear to the younger generations is the major cause of the premature surrender of our compatriots. Unless the survival instinct, so deeply buried nowadays, Manages to pierce through the thick layers of cotton wool to finally regain the upper hand when the time comes. At least that is what we should hope for.
To conclude, Here is a passage from O Globo by Gustavo Curçao :
“My God … How can I love if I have to fight?
Christ responded by saying! Exactly Battling For this is the best form of charity to which the enemy was right .
Incredible as it It is the pacifists who sin against charity when they want all to unite and to mix in the same indifference towards truth and goodness, for against charity there is no Of sin more odious than the complacent condescension with which we allow others to remain in error and in evil, and collaborate in this lamentable situation … “
The deadly pacifist ideology of modern Cathos is a mental aberration. If the Crusaders were to come back for a final clean-up, I would not be surprised if they would like to start with these piteous blessing-cuts.
A city or a nation is not forced to be exterminated; it would be the triumph of injustice on earth. Hence the error of the theorists of non-resistance to evil or simple passive resistance like Tolstoy, Gandhi, Pope Francis and post-conciliar predecessors, and so many others.
Many of the wicked of the other camp will wake up in the day of chaos. The only alternative we have to survive is to be as wicked as they are.