Survivalist Attitude

Time for a bump.

Anyway...

As has been pointed out, attitude is a large part of survival. If you are bound and determined to see your troubles through, odds are you will with a little preparation and practise.

Get used to using your equipment...sounds corny, but how many actually do? Keep it in good repair, and where you can get to it when SHTF. In the basement under 3 feet of water and the house washing away isn't going to do you a whole lot of good, IMHO.

With a little preparation and practice and a lot of "no quit" attitude, you'll make it through where others, quite simply, won't.

Whatever the circumstances, the best chance you can give yourself that you will survive is to learn and to prepare yourself mentally now. It makes little difference how many books you possess on survival subjects if they are on the bottom bookshelf in your living room and you are on your roof surrounded by floodwaters. Each situation is unique and each decision for action (or for inaction) affects the reality for the next and all future decisions.

Survival begins and ends with attitude. It cannot be stressed strongly enough just how important that one element is. It will literally mean the difference between survival and failure. Failure means death so you decide now and at every point along the way, just how seriously you want to approach the subject. It is imperative that you keep a positive attitude and expect to survive.

Expect to live but never, ever let yourself believe that you have a right to be here or that you are entitled to survive. Life is a crapshoot and each one of us has a date with the old grim reaper sooner or later. Nature is relentless and unforgiving and doesn’t care who you are. It does play by a set of rules though and the more you understand those rules and use them, the greater will be your chance for survival. You can’t fight nature and expect to win for long. You may get away with an occasional indiscretion with nature. Then again, you may not. There are no higher stakes.

Survival is something that you will have to work to achieve. It won’t just happen. You have to make it happen. You will have to face up to it and take full responsibility for every minute of every day and night.

Most of us live pretty much insulated from nature. We’ve come to expect certain comforts in life, such as air conditioning, refrigeration, electrical power, plumbing and a certain degree of protection from the elements. Those will be the first things you’ll have to learn to live without or to improvise. Willingness and ability to comprimise and adapt will make that much easier. Without a positive attitude that won't happen. That will be the hardest part for most people.

The desire to survive is more than just an attitude. The desire and will to live is a basic instinct that most living things in the world have.

Not every living thing has this innate desire; just like not everyone has a natural desire to reproduce (nor should they).

Those with the fervent desire and will to live will devote all of their energies and intellect to deciding ahead of time to live, survive, and thrive.

Not only do I wish to survive; I am determined to see to it that my children outlive me and so on.

Did Yoda say something about there being 'No try or try not... only do or do not"? I don't recall the exact quote but that's me: Do or Do not.
The word 'try' implies mediocre and half hearted attempts followed by the copout excuse of "Well, I tried. Oh well."
Jules

anyone familar with the books written by Tom Brown jr ( the tracker )

because of his books, i fell in love with the outdoors and survival

at one time,
with only the clothes on his back and a knife
he left civilization behind
he lived in the Jersey wilds for a year

when TSHTF
it would be nice to have the proper survival equipment
but the right attitude is the key to survival

One day nearly 20 years ago a dear friend and mentor decided to put on a little demonstration for me. He picked up two rocks and struck them together to knock a sliver from one of them. He then took the sliver and shaved some hair on his arm with ease. When I thought of the hours I had spent trying to hone knives to that sharpness, to no avail I realized that with one blow to that rock he had taken a part of me back to the stone age. Just by witnessing that I now know that even without the knife things will be ok as long as I keep the right attitude.