A SURVIVAL MINDSET
6/20/20
You’ve probably noticed how the vast majority of people react in a SHTF scenario: poorly. This is greatly do to fear clouding their minds and logic being blocked out. Fear is the mind killer, and when it comes to unexpected and traumatic events, such as car accidents, people’s minds tend to shut off. One thing that preppers often overlook is mental survival, or how to stay cool, calm and collected in a survival situation. This can be accomplished with practice. Practicing creates an automatic, or, muscle memory reflex, that can keep you moving in the right direction even when your thoughts are muddled.
Letting one’s emotions dictate your actions, during a SHTF situation, will always lead to poor decision making, and in a survival scenario this is very dangerous. When your life (and maybe others’) may depend on your next decision, you have to stay as calm and focused as humanly possible.
To give you an interesting factoid, in a disaster scenario, approximately 80 percent of people basically freeze (the fainting-goat effect, a severe form of panic), while 10 percent “just” panic, which leaves a mere 10 percent actually capable to respond in a meaningful way and take action.
To understand the mechanisms of fear and panic during stressful situations, thus learning how to control your mind processes, you must know that, in times of stress, your body produces various hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, which are well known to the general public due to their effect, often called “flight or fight response“.
When your body starts pumping out cortisol and adrenaline, your energy level and stamina get a significant boost; however, when the ‘drugs’ wear off, you’ll be confronted with both mental and physical fatigue. It’s also worth noticing that cortisol, which is a stress hormone, causes the brain’s pre-frontal cortex and hippo-campus to malfunction, to slow down basically, which means that fear really is the mind killer, i.e. under very stressful conditions, you’re literally mentally impaired.
To make it real simple, in a “flight or fight” situation, your reptilian brain (amygdala) takes over your frontal cortex, which means you’ll be answering to a crisis situation with emotions instead of logic and reason.
This is why when people panic, the 10% that panic tend to react rather stupid (80% not at all), resulting in a “no brainer” (pun intended) response.
Being capable of controlling your emotional state, thus being able to remain calm, cool and collected in a survival situation is paramount, as it can make the difference between life and death.
When it comes to survival, your ability to withstand stress in SHTF situations trumps physical fitness, i.e. it’s not always the strong who are the best at handling their emotions during emergencies. If you don’t have a positive mind set, your physical skills will most likely render useless in survival situations. Remember, your brain is your best survival tool. Training your brain through repetitive conditioning (practicing) can maintain survival momentum until you regain the proper frame of mind.
With the right attitude, anything is possible, as the mind has the power to push the body to do extraordinary things. As records show, especially in emergency wilderness situations, people managed to stay alive on will alone, i.e. one’s will to live made survival possible against all odds-on countless occasions.
Here are some tips and tricks to help keeping your mind in peak condition.
First, never play the blame game, as in never blame yourself. It’s a completely unproductive line of thinking, that will only render you ineffective and miserable. Concentrate on what to do next, how to get out of that hairy situation. It doesn’t matter anymore what would have happened had you acted differently or made a different decision, it’s all water under the bridge.
Reaffirm yourself. Using a mantra, a certain phrase in your head, that can boost your spirits during a crisis. Phrases like “You can do this” or “I got this”.
Make your mind think along the lines of “keep going”, “never quit”, “The Force is with me” whatever suits you better. The trick is to switch your mindset, to focus on positive things and what to do next.
Realistic thinking and positive statements go a long way but you shouldn’t pretend to be someone else, i.e. a person devoid of emotions. Address your emotions, acknowledge them as they come, don’t try to ignore them; just accept them, handle them, overcome them and then move on.
Prevent your mind from turning onto itself, by keeping it busy, think of creative or alternative ways to ease your situation or to salvage plans; cook, tinker with your gear, fix your shelter, think critically about goals.
A healthy mind usually resides in a healthy body, which means that it’s much easier to stay positive and “think happy thoughts” if you’re rested, well fed and in good physical condition.
Maintaining perspective. For example, if you’ve lost your food supply to wild animals, don’t despair, it could’ve been worse: you weren’t there, so you weren’t injured/eaten yourself. Food and resources can usually be replaced. Think of how to replace what you’ve lost instead of resigning to the loss.
Focus on breathing. There’s a breathing system called the 4-7-8 method. It goes something like this:
1. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.
3. Hold your breath for a count of 7.
4. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8.
5. This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of 4 breaths.
The best way to stay calm during a SHTF event is to always be prepared, both mentally and physically, for such an eventuality. Plan ahead, train hard, eat the right things and acquire as many survival skills as you can. Read and learn survival skills. Get hands on training, practice, there’s no substitute for real-life experiences.
Oh, and don’t forget your emergency kit.
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