What Is A Survival Situation?

Survival Situation or Weekend Camping Trip

A tourist gets separated from his group and is lost in the jungles of Malaysia. He has a machete, knife, a couple of liters of water, and a tent. Now the man thinks to himself, “whatever shall I do, the situation is dire, I am lost in the jungle and my chances of survival are slim”. The tourist thinks he is in a survival situation, to an Orang Asli (native Malaysian) who grew up in the Jungles of Malaysia, this would be a weekend glamping trip.

Prepared or Over Prepared

I have heard of people who commute for 20-minutes a day, and they are prepared. They have a get-home bag, stocked up with gear and enough food and water to last them 3 days. While I applaud their preparedness. To me, that is a little over the top. Many people’s “get home bags” would probably be a 72-hour bag (bug-out bag) to me. I mean let’s be honest, a 20-minute commute by car is a short walk home.

There is a big difference between a Get Home Bag, a Bug Out Bag, and an Inch Bag. Pack appropriately, carrying around a 72-hour bug-out bag as your ”get home bag” would just slow you down. Not to mention it is a little bulky for its intended purpose.

Social Norms Dictate Our Perception of Survival

I have watched survival shows where people are seen eating grasshoppers, grubs and what some would call peculiar foods. They then start choking and gagging dramatically.

I have eaten all of the above and more, but not in a survival situation. In some cultures, deep-fried grasshoppers are a snack, grubs are a staple source of protein and snakes are a delicacy. I have also eaten crocodile meat, bats, pigeons, turtle, eel, etc. While exotic in some parts of the world, they are common fare in others.

Turn Your Survival Situation, Into Just an Uncomfortable Situation.

The more you know, the less you carry, the better skilled you are, the less you worry. Often Knowledge and skills are what determines if it is a survival situation or just something that needs to be handled.

A sharp mind and a well-rounded set of skills are more valuable than a bag full of tools. Although the bag full of tools would come in handy and make life substantially easier. Your aim is to learn enough, that you can not only survive but thrive with a minimal amount of gear.

Humans Survive in the Harshest of Conditions on a Daily Basis

Humans have managed to survive in the harshest of environments, by wit, with skill and knowledge passed down through the ages (a smattering of luck never hurt). Your mission should you choose to accept it (geeky Mission Impossible reference) is to learn enough that you are confident in your abilities. The reason I have stated that a survival situation depends on perception is because throughout history. People have learned to survive and even thrive in the harshest of environments. From scorching deserts to frozen wastelands, using only primitive tools and skills taught to them by their elders.

Buying Gear and Learning Skills.

Many people start their journey on self-reliance by buying a ton of gear that they do not know how to use. By reading multiple articles on survival and not practicing a single one of the skills taught in the articles. The majority of people want to be able to survive in any situation. But only a few put in the actual work to improve themselves.

Let us start our journey with the knowledge that many situations are not as dire as we initially think. That with a cool head, a little bit of knowledge, and some basic skills. You can and will survive (stay positive).

What Survival Skills To Learn First?

The first thing you need to learn is to keep calm. Panic leads to bad decisions and mistakes. The next thing I would recommend everyone learns is the Rule of Three, the rule of three will help a person prioritize what to do first. Then I would highly recommend learning basic first aid, after which there are a whole lot of things to learn. Here is a list of things to learn in no particular order:

Shelter building
Fishing
Foraging
Hunting
Water purification methods
Navigation
Gear maintenance (how to sharpen a knife, sew, etc)
How to safely use a knife, axe, saw
How to start a fire
Outdoor Cooking
Dress and clean game
Make cordage
Essential knots (bowline, reef knot, prusik knot, clove hitch, figure 8, etc)
Making and using primitive weapons (modern weapons are good and all, but having a backup plan is always good)
Basic hygiene in adverse conditions, rarely written about, but essential to know.

Learning Survival Skills

In the past, many of these skills would have been common knowledge, and in some parts of the world, they still are. I hunted in the jungles of Malaysia with natives and they were amazingly adept at surviving with practically no gear. Although I should mention, that they always had a cutting tool, usually a machete or large knife.

Many people learn survival skills as a hobby (bush crafting covers many basic survival skills) and a few learn survival skills to prepare themselves for any eventuality. A very very few, not only learn survival skills but also practice them regularly. Some even make it a way of life, aspiring to be truly prepared for any eventuality.

A couple of books I highly recommend are in this post “Best Survival Books of 2022“

Rating yourself from 1-10, what level of preparedness are you on right this minute. And what level would you like to be on in the future?