To make is successfully through a survival crisis or situation, you have to have a certain set of skills.
Here are a few of them.
Put aside things you have no ability to affect.
Mental strength is like muscle strength — no one has an unlimited supply. So why waste your power on things you can’t control?
For some people it’s politics. For others it’s family. For others, it’s global warming. Whatever it is, you care … and you want others to care.
Fine. Do what you can do: Vote. Lend a listening ear. Recycle and reduce your carbon footprint.
Do what you can do. Be your own change — but don’t try to make everyone else change.
See the past as valuable training … and nothing more.
The past is valuable. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of others.
Then let it go.
Easier said than done? It depends on your perspective. When something bad happens to you, see it as an opportunity to learn something you didn’t know. When another person makes a mistake, don’t just learn from it — see it as an opportunity to be kind, forgiving, and understanding.
Celebrate the success of others.
Many people — I guarantee you know at least a few — see success as a zero-sum game: There’s only so much to go around. When someone else shines, they think that diminishes the light from their stars.
Resentment sucks up a massive amount of mental energy — energy better applied elsewhere.
When a friend does something awesome, that doesn’t preclude you from doing something awesome.Don’t resent awesomeness. Create and celebrate awesomeness, wherever you find it, and in time you’ll find even more of it in yourself.
Each of these skills is needed to get through anything life throws at us (and let’s face it, by our own making or the making of others or happenstance, life throws a lot at each of us.)
In a survival setting, though, having these skills is even more important as our margin of error is greatly reduced.
To learn other life skills you need to master (or work on if you are not good at them,) check out The Good Survivalist.