Survivor's Mindset

[teamnelson]

In a time of drastic change the learners will inherit the future. The learned find themselves equipped to survive in a world that no longer exists. - Eric Hoffer

So I've tried to become learned in the school of survival. Read a lot, been places, done things. Lots of good information - bob lists, how-tos ... My favorite how tos have to do with the coming zombie apocalypse. I work with the smartest and the best of the next generation of Americans however and my concern now about survival isn't about information. We are swimming in information.

What we lack is humility. Blessed are the meek for they will be willing to learn how to adapt to the world they inherit.

So what are we doing to learn/teach a survivor's mindset? Cause it's not about how much you know or what gear you brung.

[mjh]

"So what are we doing to learn/teach a survivor's mindset?"

Certainly not enough in the teach area! 

Responsiblity, self reliance, problems solving, social relations, how to be a man or a woman, what it means to take resposniblity for one self and ones actions, humilty without being a victim,

We are surounded by a culture of folks who think they deserve a whole lot more than they are willing to work for, folks wait for a bailout, handout, being saved by the helicopeter, more than willing to be a victim waiting for help, folks filled with hubris

Sure acidents happen to good folks who are prepared in many ways and its their mindset that gets them out or they die.

Mindset is just about everthing and owning the skills.  One can adapt to many situations.  How to teach this however is difficult. 

Start with epecting and teaching self responsiblity, responsibility to family, community, church, etc.  YOU ARE REPONSIBLE FOR YOU!
From there mix in the skills and experiences that will enable the peson to live and grow into a self respecting, well adjusted, self responsible, intelligent, consious individual that knows how to get things done and can survive in an ever changing environment.

Easier said than done!   But well worth the conversation.

[Swampman]

What we lack is humility.

What we need is lots of practice.

[james]

I think most people will quickly adapt when the survival mode kicks in. The problem will be they have never practiced the skills to survive and can't get on the internet and read how to do it.  I get a kick out of people who will not eat wild game or even meat.  I laugh when I think of a disaster that causes a food shortage.  While they are starving and growing lettuce in their garden, I will have a pooch roasting over the fire.  If and when it comes down to be the survial of the fittest, I plan on being one of the fittest.
We just had an ice storm that shut all the electricity down in NE Arkansas and SE Missouri.  It was an inconvenience to the rural residents but many of the people in town were unprepared and had to go to shelters. I slid my coolers along under the fence while hitting the wires, and filled them with icles, just in case my freezers started thawing.  I had all my camp stoves, lanterns, propane heaters, and kerosene lamps so it was just a two day camping trip for me, with a house for a tent. I was considering making a lot of deer, elk, and antelope, jerky when my power came back on.  My hunting buddy who lives within a mile of me, just called and said the electric company told him it would be two weeks before he had power restored. He is running a generator in order to have the comforts we are accustomed to.  Some people, without power, have been driving 50 miles to wash their clothes at a laundrymat.  I guess they don't have a wash tub or clothesline. 

[Swampman]

Why worry about washing clothes?  Just wear them!

[teamnelson]

I think most people will quickly adapt when the survival mode kicks in.

Running a generator to maintain your standard of living until the government fixes things isn't survival, unless you're off the grid for good already. Driving 50 miles to wash clothes is a way of saying "This is temporary. Somebody is going to fix it and make it all right soon."

If the "experts" are correct, 98% of people will not adapt without someone telling them what to do. 1% will take leadership, and 1% will exploit the anarchy. Of the original 98, half will eventually adapt. The other half wont ever. They will be easy prey for the "bad" 1%, and a real pain in the butt for the 1% trying to lead. And these numbers are based on data collected over the last 70 years of American combat veterans, folks already typically endowed with a better than average resiliency, or at least willingness to be near danger.

As we're documenting now from military recruiting since the war started, while better educated, the mental fortitude of the average recruit is way down from decades prior. When faced with predictable life-threatening situations, they are crumbling internally in greater percentages. This is from an all volunteer force during a time of war - not a suprise, roll with the punches scenario, and its in a highly controlled, supported and trained environment. Suicide in the Army among first termers is at an all time high (mostly relational issues), and separation due to Personality Disorder Unspecified is on the climb.

If survival is primarily mental fortitude, evidence from at least one sector of our society seems to indicate that most people will not adapt.

[Westbound]

I agree that most modern Americans will have difficulty adapting, if they even can.
I had a discussion with my wife about what she would do if we had a situation such as just happaned in Arkansas and Missouri with the ice storms.  2 weeks without power.
Her first question... How would I wash my hair.  It was intended as a joke, but only to a point.  This would be a real concern for her, but it started her thinking... and realizing I'm not a complete nutcase for stocking food and water, and having a means to cook. And having plenty of lamp oil for the oil lanterns.
Something as simple as a storm induced power outage sends thousands to shelters because they had never even thought about the possibility.

Being prepared is great, but the mindset is most important.  Being able to gauge the situation and make rational decisions is extremely important, but seriously lacking in most people today. 

[rparsons934]

I to agree that most would not be able to adapt. TO be honest i dont know if i would have been if i wernt raised the way i was. Also with some help of wilderness/survival programs in my youth. This counrty is iggnorant. Mosed are lost with out cable. An example my fiance has a friend who knows this girl who is 20. She still lives with her mother and has her mother shave her leggs. Indepdent any more has a new meaning. Independent doesnt mean you can go and live in the wild. It means you can go to work and pay your bills. But what happens when there are no bills(party....just kidding), or jobs. What will the people of this country who depend on people or machines for absolutly everything. I no a man who cried over loosing his cell phone because he said it was his life. THe good ol days are gone. Most people wouldnt even be able to wipe with out TP. Its amazing how much information is out there that goes unread. even more amazing that out of 10 ppl who have the information ony 2 if thier lucky will know what to do with it.


sorry about spelling.

[SM Outdoors]

TeamNelson,
Thanks for the thought... I forwarded a link to my wife and used it as a conversational step off point for something we have off and on discussed over the years... She liked the thread and it invoked some advanced thinking on her part.... thank you!

[SHOOTALL]

Consider this as a child/young man my grandparents had an out house and a kitchen sink with cold water only . cooked with a wood stove , heated with a wood stove and had an oil circulater for speical days in the " front room . The house started out as a log cabin and had a kitchen and a big room and attic added over the years . While stayin with them i learned to kill and smoke/salt meat . To can everything . draw water from both well and spring , keep cray fish in spring to keep it clear . they had an ice pond , used a horse to plow , raised tobacco for cash . they raised and sold eggs and veggies . my grandfather was a market hunter for many years , he stoped in the 50's . Most today have no chance to even see these things . Not sure a book can teach these skills . Making a fire and such is important but food and water is a biggie .
A  true story , a friend sent a cured ham to a family member in another state  . He never heard a thank you or anything . While visiting a few years later he asked if he had recived the ham , only to be told it had blueish green mold all over it and they threw it away . If it ain't in a vac pack on a store shelf some won't know they can eat it .

[teamnelson]

I recently read the book "The Road" at the recommendation of a thread here on Graybeard. If you've not read it, you ought to. Even if you don't enjoy reading, this is an easy read. I've not read anything that so realistically and soberly discussed life after a collapse. I've got my 13yo son reading it right now so we can discuss what a real hero is - someone who can not only survive a crisis, but also lead others to survive it as well, and retain a sense of humanity. Cormac McCarthy is considered a modern literary figure so it wasn't in the science fiction section; try literature-fiction at Barnes & Nobles at least.


I was going to read the Dies The Fire trilogy by Stirling, made it through the first book which had some good thoughts heavily diluted with an introduction to wicca, biker gangs of the apocalypse, and space bats alternating the laws of physics. It was too much work trying to pick the pieces of corn out of the pile

[pab1]

TeamNelson, I try to get as many people to read that book as I can. It gets you thinking!

[Sourdough]

I think those of us who grew up in areas of the country where we lived off the land, and did not have the modern conviences will not have a problem.  I was seven or eight before we had electricity.  Water came from a well or spring, who ever heard of water coming from a pipe.

Hang a pot of dried beans in the fire place in the morning.  About two hours before time to eat put a roast in a pot of water hanging over the fire, let it boil for a while.  Bout an hour before time to eat peel some potatoes and put them in a pot to boil over the fire in the fire place.  Once they have cooked, take them out and mash them.  Mix up some cornmeal and yeast, put it in a cast iron skillet with a flat lid, bury it in the fire.  20 to 40 minutes, depending on what type of wood you are burning and how hot the fire is, the corn bread will be done.  There you got a roast, mashed potatoes, and corn bread.  Other vegetables to go with that can be eaten raw or propared in the same manner.

That's efficiency, using your heating fire to cook dinner.  You can do the same thing with a wood stove.

Every time I leave town I am off the grid.  The villages off the road system live that way today.   

[SHOOTALL]

what were the beans in the pot for ?

[deltecs]

I think those of us who grew up in areas of the country where we lived off the land, and did not have the modern conviences will not have a problem.  I was seven or eight before we had electricity.  Water came from a well or spring, who ever heard of water coming from a pipe.

Hang a pot of dried beans in the fire place in the morning.  About two hours before time to eat put a roast in a pot of water hanging over the fire, let it boil for a while.  Bout an hour before time to eat peel some potatoes and put them in a pot to boil over the fire in the fire place.  Once they have cooked, take them out and mash them.  Mix up some cornmeal and yeast, put it in a cast iron skillet with a flat lid, bury it in the fire.  20 to 40 minutes, depending on what type of wood you are burning and how hot the fire is, the corn bread will be done.  There you got a roast, mashed potatoes, and corn bread.  Other vegetables to go with that can be eaten raw or propared in the same manner.

That's efficiency, using your heating fire to cook dinner.  You can do the same thing with a wood stove.

Every time I leave town I am off the grid.  The villages off the road system live that way today.   

I could not agree with this more.  During my 30+ years of bush living and access to it by float plane or boat across open ocean for 40 miles, I've hired many seasonal employees during the nice summer months.  At the end of summer, not one has suggested or requested to spend a winter just caretaking the complex.  Now, my year round lifestyle in the bust is not as one would expect.  Satellite tv, satellite broadband internet, cell service, and complete facilities as one would have just as if living in the city proper.  I've constantly heard from others that they would like to do what my family lifestyle is, but cannot wait until they get back to the lemings of city dwelling.  It is the mindset regarding survival that will indicate those 1% that will survive comfortably compared to those 98% who will not.  I'm still looking for winter caretakers that can handle the solitude of bush living watching my residence and complex safely and diligently.   Know anyone, have them im me.