Deep Survival

Take today off to rest the body and feed the mind. I suggest the book Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales.

Gonzales has written 12 Rules of Survival. Here is rule number one:

Perceive and Believe

“Don’t fall into the deadly trap of denial or of immobilizing fear. Admit it: You’re really in trouble and you’re going to have to get yourself out.

Many people who in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, died simply because they told themselves that everything was going to be all right. Others panicked. Panic doesn’t necessarily mean screaming and running around. Often it means simply doing nothing. Survivors don’t candy-coat the truth, but they also don’t give in to hopelessness in the face of it.

Survivors see opportunity, even good, in their situation, however grim. After the ordeal is over, people may be surprised to hear them say it was the best thing that ever happened to them. Viktor Frankl, who spent three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, describes comforting a woman who was dying. She told him, “I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard. In my former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.”

The phases of the survival journey roughly parallel the five stages of death once described by Elizabeth Kubler Ross in her book On Death and Dying: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In dire circumstances, a survivor moves through those stages rapidly to acceptance of his situation, then resolves to do something to save himself. Survival depends on telling yourself, “Okay, I’m here. This is really happening. Now I’m going to do the next right thing to get myself out.” Whether you succeed or not ultimately becomes irrelevant. It is in acting well–even suffering well–that you give meaning to whatever life you have to live.”

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 7:27 am and is filed under All Entries, Warrior Mind. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

matt goodman says:

October 12, 2008 at 10:06 am

i feel like i missed the boat, this is Awsome. your on the board. good and simple. i like it. lets talk when you get the time.
mg

Chandler W says:

October 12, 2008 at 1:54 pm

this sounds like a good book. I agree that when people get into trouble they have to think on their toes to find a way out of the situation. If people don’t think and freeze they fall into a bigger hole or “Quicksand” which is where you fail and no matter how hard you try you just keep digging yourself into a worse situation.

Today I did 7 rounds for time of:
7 broad jump
7 burpee clean and jerk (40kg)
7 pullups
I finished in 9:30