A Survival Attitude

'May You Live in Interesting Times' - a curse of disputed origin

From the web site, we live in INTERESTING TIMES , comes a list of survival advice entitled, A wee bit more on survival. I like the list because it focuses not on things but rather upon the psychology of survival. I've tweaked it a bit as follows...

1. Perceive & believe: take in the raw data from your surroundings, trust your senses. Don't fall into denial at the scope of disaster or death.
2. Stay calm and use humor, fear, anger, etc to help you maintain focus
3. Think, analyze, plan. You need a plan but it does NOT have to be the grand master plan. There may be too much confusion to see "The Big Picture" so plan what you need for the next manageable step towards your ultimate goal.
4. Take correct, decisive action. Be bold (but not careless)
5. Celebrate your successes. It is easy feel helpless and useless when so much is lost or many are dead. Give yourself full credit for each little victory, each life saved, each item found. Count your blessings and be grateful to be alive
6. Keep your mind busy: Work, sing, count things to avoid the lethargy that comes from shock. Let nothing break your spirit.
7. Don't surrender and never give up. If one thing doesn't work, try again, or try something different.
8. Do whatever is necessary. You may not like it, but if you can do it, and if it might help your plight, do it.

Bottom Line

During a crisis it is important to believe that you will succeed and to take action. Let nothing stop you. DO NOT trust officials to advise what is "best". They may be wrong or they may be thinking of the greater public good and not your personal welfare. For example, during a dirty bomb attack (either biological or radioactive) the official response it to keep all victims confined so they don't spread the disease or radiation. If you are one of the victims I doubt you'd agree to being kept on the scene and out of a hospital; waiting hours for a hazmat team to assemble and build a decontamination "tent".