BreakAwayAdventure - Don't Panic and Plan for Survival

Don't Panic!!
A man falls out of a raft and into a tempestuous river. He is not wearing a life vest. As the roiling current carries
him downstream, he panics and swims, kicking and flailing, for all he's worth towards shore. His ankle catches
between two rocks and the current pins him down under the water. He struggles to yank his ankle free in the
direction the current is taking him and only manages to jam it in further. He gasps in panic, swallows a lung full
of water…. he is never seen again.

A man is walking through the woods. As he comes around a tree he finds himself facing a mountain-lion twenty
feet away. Each is surprised to see the other. The man reacts instinctively. Dreading the thought of being mauled
and eaten, he turns and runs for all he's worth. The mountain-lion lunges after him and in a few desperate
heartbeats, catches the man and kills him.

A family is taking a winter trip when they find themselves in the middle of a snow storm on a wooded, mountain
road. Virtually blinded by the blowing snow, the driver loses track of the road and drives over the edge. The
car crashes down the steep incline and vanishes into the trees below. Nobody is hurt, the engine still runs, but it
is impossible to drive out of their predicament. Worse, the falling snow is rapidly covering any sign of their track
and the vehicle is so well hidden by undergrowth and trees that they are practically invisible from the air. A
week later, rescuers find the frozen family huddled together in the car, dead.

All three of the above scenarios are loosely based on actual events. Each of these events could have had a
different outcome. At the heart of each fatality was panic.

Physically, nature hasn't been particularly kind to us. Most animals are, pound for pound and inch for inch,
stronger than us, faster than us or more agile than us. We have a laughable sense of smell, barely adequate
hearing and we're horribly myopic. We have no fangs or claws or other natural weapons worthy of note. We
have no lush fur or thick hide to armor us. All in all, we are the Mr. Magoo of the planet. Despite all our failings,
we've risen to the status of top species and we didn't get here on our good looks alone. The one advantage we
do have over every other species on the planet and the asset solely responsible for our success is our brain.
Yet, thousands of people die needlessly every year for lack of using that singular advantage. Why? Panic.

Panic is nature's way of preserving animal life. See a fire, panic and run the other way. See a predator, panic,
run the other way and hope the gazelle you're running next to is just a little slower than you are. If stuck in quick
sand or sucking mud, panic and struggle to get free. Panic often works in nature because, absent the ability to
reason, it provides a moderately successful alternative. Escape the threatening situation using the assets available
to the creature in jeopardy; strength, speed, agility, stamina, weapons, etc. Lacking those assets, a human who
panics is just as likely to get himself in more trouble than out of trouble. We simply don't have much in the way
of strength, speed, agility, stamina or natural weapons so throwing that sadly depleted arsenal at a problem is
seldom the best solution. And yet people try it, time and time again. The worst element of panic is not that it
directs us to use weak tools, though. The worst element of panic is that it completely distracts us from using the
one good tool we do have; our brains.

Each of the three examples at the opening of this article is different. In the first scenario, falling into rapids, the
person did what one naturally thinks to do in a panic which is swim for land for all you're worth. We are land
animals. Fast moving water bad. Cozy dry land good. It's that simple. But a clear head and a little bit of
advance research and knowledge about the environment you are planning to be in (river-rafting in this example)
can save your life. When you fall into rapids, float (on your back, facing up). Point your feet downstream and
keep your head and extremities floating high so they do not get bashed or trapped by submerged rocks. Swim
using a side stroke motion (still with your head upstream and your feet downstream) to gradually work your
way towards calmer water or land. Assuming you forget to do this and do find yourself with a limb trapped
between submerged rocks, don't try to pull through the obstacle. That's what got you stuck to begin with. Flex
the limb to expand the muscles so it doesn't wedge in any deeper. Next, coil your body up towards the jam and
quickly try to force the trapped limb out, opposite the direction in which it became trapped, while
simultaneously relaxing the muscles at the point the limb is jammed. This will shrink the diameter of the limb and
give it better odds of slipping free. If it scrapes and hurts, suck it up. Abrasions heal. Drowning does not. Pull
up, pull opposite, but don't try to pull through. You'll just wind up more stuck.

I'll reserve details for future articles but a quick point about the second example is our poor victim virtually
assured it turned out badly by running. Cats are predatory. Run from a cat and you trigger its predatory instinct.
You are sending a message when you turn your back and scamper away, stinking of fear. You are saying, "I
recognize you as a predator and I am prey. Come and get me." Fighting down the base instinct and using your
brain can't assure you a predator won't attack, but it can certainly improve your odds of surviving. One thing is
for certain - You are NOT going to be able to outrun a predator.

Again, a detailed article will follow this in the future, but our final example had a family with a wealth of
resources squandering them away due to slow-burn panic. They failed to think. Use your brain. Be creative.
Ration any snacks and candy you have in the car. You will get hungry but don't mistake that for starvation. You
can survive for well over a week (as long as three depending on calories burned) without food so use what you
have sparingly. Think long-term. There are dozens of things in a car that can help you survive. Sparks from the
battery, the cigarette lighter, insulation from the seats, cabling and wires, fuel in the tank can all make the
difference between life and death. The exhaust must be kept clear of snow to prevent gassing your family to
death if you do run the engine to empty (though why bother. You're in the woods, right? Why waste that useful
gas with all that wood around to burn in a cozy, morale-boosting fire?) Our next tip will elaborate on how to
use that wonderful contraption that drove you into this mess as a tool for survival.

With no injuries, there are just so many reasons NOT to die in a situation like this but slow burn panic sets in
and people stop thinking and just hope for the best or try walking out despite knowing they are dozens of miles
from civilization. Hope is great. Maybe rescue will come quickly when Aunt Mary gets worried and calls the
police because you're two days overdue and nobody can reach you. But that's two days and the rescuers
haven't even started looking yet! If you just sat in the car with the engine running, you're long out of gas and well
on the way to freezing to death by then. But maybe somebody will see you from the road despite the fact that
they're likely focusing on nothing BUT the road for fear of winding up in the same predicament you're in. Hope,
yes. It's the motivator that keeps us fighting. But never substitute rational thinking, planning, and effective action
for hope alone. Hope gives you the willingness to keep fighting, but it isn't hope that wins the fight. It's
determination to survive and clear-headed thought, absent panic, that will see you through. Use that big mass of
jelly jiggling around in your skull. Our entire species has survived on nothing more than that and a little luck for
millions of years. Why should you be any different?