An Overview of Survival

Survival is not just living and continuing to be alive. It is an active participation in effective “doingness” that results in good health and a better existence for yourself, your family, your friends and often your neighbors. It can also include your business associates and sometimes your country and even all of humanity.

There is no such thing as bad survival. If a person is not surviving, they are dying and if they do not force themselves to consider the situation and actively do something effective to change it, they will not make it. This is just as true in normal life as it is in survival situations.

When most of us think of a survival situation we think of being in an extremely harsh environment with very limited resources, where your next step could be your last. This is true, but only to the extent that you are not familiar with nor have knowledge of that environment.

The further you get from the environment you are used to, the more active your participation in effective doingness will need to be. Even in your present location, the environment could change suddenly through natural disaster, military activity or domestic accidents. The greater your knowledge, familiarity and preparedness, the greater your chances of survival.

Consider an individual who has lived in the wilderness his whole life, not having any contact with modern society. If such a person where to suddenly find himself stranded in the middle of a large city, with all the confusing bright lights, crowded traffic and a general lack of wilderness, that person would be in a very dangerous survival situation.

It’s highly likely he won’t survive if he doesn’t:

A. recognize that he is now in a survival situation and will need to operate differently than when he was back home in the wilderness,

B. rapidly and calmly observe (use all senses to gain knowledge of) his environment,

C. assess (look at and discover the extent of) any possible dangers,

D. categorize those dangers from maximum to minimum threats,

E. notice anything in the immediate surrounding that could help overcome those dangers,

F. compare all that is happening to any knowledge or experience he already has (this is when most survivors wish they had taken the chance at some point to learn something about survival situations),

G. decide on a course of action one is capable of to reduce those dangers and,

H. actually take that action.

While this might seem to be a huge thought process to go through in the middle of an urgent situation, it can be done in a split second. In fact, most people do it all the time just living their lives. You do it every time you cross the street, people who don’t are likely to end up being hit by a vehicle.

But it all gets very tricky if you have no knowledge or familiarity with what you are doing and basic survival techniques, especially in a survival situation. You need to know how to handle injuries, how to stay healthy and fit, how to help others in need. Shelter, water, food and fire are basic requirements in most survival situations and you need to know what to do to get them. How to signal and attract a search and get yourself rescued or what to do if you’re not rescued and have to navigate to safety.

You could find yourself isolated at any point on the globe, from a tropical rain forest to the Arctic ice, from the open ocean to a desert. Do you know how to operate when moving through a jungle, mountain ranges, across rivers, swamps, vast open plains, in the freezing cold or scorching heat? All of these can be extremely dangerous environments and each will challenge a person in different ways, but you can obtain water, shelter, food and fuel in any of them and survive, if you know how.

In this site we make knowledge of survival available to you. It is important to understand that much of what is taught here applies to real survival, life or death situations, where you are struggling for self-preservation. Some of the survival skills, techniques and activities should not even be considered for use in normal life.

For example, many of the medical techniques given here are great to have knowledge of and some idea of how to perform them, such as suturing an open artery, but are best performed by a licensed professional and should never be attempted at home. Emergency medical, fire and other services are quite adequate in modern civilization and should be left to them. Of course knowledge of first aide or basic fire fighting skills could save your home or a life if action is required before the authorities arrive, it is advisable to take a course on these skills and learn them from a licensed source.

Also a good example is the test you will learn to find out if a type of plant is edible or harmful, some people react differently or have allergies and this should be considered by the individual before performing such tests.

Another example is trapping techniques, because the ones taught here are very effective, and some of them are deadly. No trap should ever be abandoned and extreme care should be taken in setting the dangerous ones so you or others are not hurt or killed. They can be a very necessary skill, especially when you are in an extreme survival situation, but not something to use on a normal, planned hiking or camping trip.

There are many different examples of this which would take too long to list out here, but use your common sense. Every country has different laws, zoning codes and protected species and some of them may contradict some of the things taught here. Sometimes your life may depend on engaging in them, but use your judgment when using survival skills in normal life.

There is also a vast amount of knowledge taught here that can be used by anyone interested in off-grid living, homesteading and self sufficiency. These can be fun and rewarding activities, particularly if you do them right, they can substantially ease the cost of living and the food you eat is so much more delicious and healthy than most store bought foods.

Whether you are learning this knowledge as a hobby, to prepare for possible future threats, to change your lifestyle or even to have a fun activity to teach your kids and bring the family closer together, I sincerely hope that it helps you.

And if, God forbid, you ever find yourself in a drastic survival situation, if the knowledge I freely teach you here helps you to live and make it out of there, I will be forever thankful for the knowledge I’ve gained and shared with you.