1-2-3 Survival
April 25, 2012, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
What do I need to survive? It’s such a general question that it’s almost impossible to answer. The question can’t accurately be answered without asking a multitude of other questions such as, “What are the circumstances?”, “What is the disaster?”, “Where are you?”, “What do you have?”, “What do you know?”, on and on…
While thinking about the many disaster scenarios, from minor setbacks to major doom-and-gloom, I wondered if survival could be summed to just a few high-level statements with all else falling beneath them. What is it that roots all else when it comes to the ability to survive?
Three basic categories came to mind that seemed to sum it all up. They are,
One-Two-Three Survival
1. Food and Water
2. Shelter and Security
3. Adaptability mindset and skill-set
Food and Water
At the very core of the human ability to survive, is food and water. Without it, we die. Any and all things related to it, will fall beneath it. Having an ‘insurance’ food storage. Having a steady flow of it. Knowing where to get more of it. The ability to grow it or raise it. It is the essence of human survival, and is at the top of the list.
Shelter and Security
The human body cannot survive out in the elements for long, without eventually being exposed to weather and environmental conditions that will lead to hypothermia, or the opposite, heat exhaustion or stroke. Shelter varies from the very basic to the elaborate. In one form or another, we need shelter to survive. I have lumped security together with shelter as it somewhat goes hand in hand with the notion of protecting one’s self and home (shelter). A man’s home is his castle. A desperate human may try to get it, and will take it from you if you cannot protect what’s yours. Secure your shelter.
Adaptability and Skill-set
Everything else having to do with what it takes to survive falls under the definition of adaptability. Being flexible, adaptable, pliable. The quality of being able to perform, facilitating achievement or accomplishment. Adaptable mind or character. Adapting to a particular situation or use. The adjustment to one’s environment. The ability to alter oneself to changed circumstances. Being able to adapt, requires not only the mindset to do so, but the practical skills to know how. The more hands-on experience with a wide variety of ‘things’ and ‘circumstances’, the more adaptable you will become. It’s one thing to have an open mind about the options presented to you, but it’s quite another to actually be able to pull it off, so to speak. I believe that all else falls under ‘adaptability’. In fact, one could argue that this is the ultimate number-one key to survival, as this trait will allow you to obtain food and water, as well as shelter and security.
So if you have been wondering what it is that you ‘need’ to survive and to be prepared for disaster circumstances, then remember the one-two-three of survival… Food/Water, Shelter/Security, and Adaptability. Think in terms of these categories and organize your disaster planning accordingly. The most challenging category is adaptability because it is so vast and broad. Focus on the first two first, because you cannot survive without them. Then, broaden your horizons with all else…
Appreciate topics of survival, emergency preparedness – or planning for disaster?
Read our current articles on Modern Survival Blog
twitter: MSurvivalBlog
Facebook
Years ago, as a single mother of four, we found ourselves homeless with three days notice. A house that I had put a rental deposit on failed to go through closing with the new owner and he could not legally rent it to us until it was finalized. This was in 1988. I had $1300, which was a fair amount back then and could not find an available house to keep my children in the same school district. We house surfed for two weeks with friends until I found us a spot.
Two years later, the house we were living in went up for sale and instead of locating locally, I put everything in storage in a friends garage and packed up the four door Dodge Dart and we lived on the road for thirteen weeks, all summer,all five of us. We had a roof rack on top with the tent poles and coleman stove, a bucket of water and the cooler. The very heavy six man canvas Coleman tent was bungeoned on top of the trunk. The very large trunk was full of our pantry box, cooking utensils and back packs of clothes. The floor of the back seat, (before seat belt laws), was packed with sleeping bags and topped off with blankets to turn the entire large back seat into a comfortable bed.
We looked like ‘Okies from Muskogee’ (No offense intended to real Okies.)
To this day, all of my children remember this as the best summer of their lives.
We would pull into a campground and the older ones knew imeadiately what to do. We first unpacked and began setting up the tent, along with hauling water and gathering firewood. We worked together well as a team.
I beleive now, that it tought my children a large degree of adaptability,ingenuity,acceptance and tolerance.
One of the best things I could have done!