Extreme Survival

We began to watch Ray Mear's Extreme Survival over the weekend and yesterday. I put this DVD on my Lovefilm list after my moment of realisation earlier this Summer that my middle son is one of life's adventurers and risk-takers and, instead of letting this stress and worry me, I need to embrace his nature and equip him to be prepared for the scrapes I have no doubt lie ahead.

These programmes are very exciting and we are all enjoying watching them. I do find myself trying hard to remember what Ray has said about how to survive in the jungle with only a machete or in the artic winter with just and axe and a spruce tree, before I consider the chances of me ever needing to survive in such a situation are decidedly low.

I was struck yesterday, in the episode 'The Psycology of Survival', at the helpful advice in case of emergency:to STOP. That is Stop, Think, Orientate yourself and Plan. I discussed this with the children and how helpful it would be if they were ever to get lost in a shopping centre, for example. I made a mental note that it also might be useful in those overwhelming moments of three hungry and tired children all needing help with different things just when I'm trying to cook a family meal.

The whole episode was about the importance of believing that you will survive, of not giving up. Survival, he said, is not a big task, it is a long series of little tasks.

Two survivors also told their tales. One, an adult woman, told of her experience when she was 12 and had been left alone with her sister on a remote Alaskan Island in the depths of winter for 13 days as her father and brother made a desperate attempt to reach help. She spoke of how much she had been back over events in her mind, condemning herself for not trying harder, how she could forgive the others, but it took so much longer to forgive her 12-year-old self. The other was a man who had lived in a life-raft for over 2 months in the Atlantic Ocean. He told of the mistakes that he felt he made and how he "just had to keep repeating to myself, you're doing the best you can, and that's all you can do."

While my comfortable, suburban life bears little resemblance to these extreme situations, I could see parallels that gave me insight into my own attitudes.

My son loved the programes. While he admitted he was unlikely to ever end up lost in the jungle or ship-wrecked, with a shy smile he told me that 'five out of ten' he'd quite like to! Well, I just hope he's remembering all of Ray's lessons, just in case!