If there is one word that can be used to describe many people’s life experiences in today’s American society, it’s hurried.
We get up in the morning and rush to get ready for work. We travel congested hi-ways to our jobs where we are met with an unrealistic workload and an over-promised timeline. We stay late to get a few more things done before we leave, yet we never seem to get caught up. Many of us even sneak in a little more work on nights and weekends.
On top of that, there are family commitments such as little league baseball, girl scouts, and birthday parties for the little ones. We rush from one event to another with little time to stop and smell the roses.
Collectively and individually, we are overcommitted in our lives. But all of this running around like crazy isn’t good for us. We create unneeded stress in our lives by trying to do too much in too little time.
Slowing Down
Slowing down and prioritizing the important activities that absolutely positively must get done is good advice for the American family. In today’s pre-TEOTWAWKI world, it’s good for our health and well-being.
In a post-TEOTWAWKI life, it could mean the difference between life and death. In survival situations, if you hurry, you die.
Consider the following:
- Sweat. When attempting to effect survival in cold weather, it’s tempting to try to do too much. You must build a shelter, collect firewood, find potable water, and hopefully make a plan for self-rescue. All of this takes time and feels very urgent as night rapidly approaches. Yet, if don’t pace yourself, if you work too hard and break a sweat, you’ll freeze. You must take a slow and measured approach to survival. You must try to maintain a constant core body temperature by working at a steady pace and removing layers of clothing. You must prioritize and work on the most important things first. If you don’t, you’re in for a long, cold night.
- Injury. When we hurry, we’re less careful about each decision we make and each step we take. Carelessness leads to injuries. In the best of times, a twisted ankle or small cut can be painful and annoying. In a survival situation, it can literally be a death sentence. A snapped ankle prevents you from preparing for a night in the wild. It keeps you from collecting water, building a signal fire, and seeking shelter. A cut or punctured finger is an invitation for an infection. Without antibiotics to aid your body in fighting the germs, you may lose the struggle.
- Fire. Starting a fire has been compared to giving CPR to a person. You must gently yet persistently coax it into life. You cannot rush any aspect of fire building or you’ll put the fire out. You must produce a good spark and add tinder and oxygen to nurse the spark into a small flame. Add kindling as your flame grows. Eventually you can add larger and larger amounts of fuel to build a fire for cooking food, purifying water, or signaling rescuers. Attempting to take shortcuts and skip steps will only succeed in increasing your frustration and delaying a good fire.
These are but three examples of how hurrying can be detrimental to your cause.
Slowing down and making deliberate decisions and marked progress toward a goal is a good idea in today’s world. In a survival situation it’s imperative. You cannot hurry survival.
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