Dealing with Emotional Stress

Dealing with emotional stress while trying to survive is something that you will have to deal with and must know. I debated on putting this in this Survival Guide, but it is too important not to.

There are several normal reactions to being out in the wilds on your own that you will probably experience. Reactions such as Fear, Anxiety, Anger and Frustration, Depression, Loneliness and Guilt. All of these can have positive or negative effects on you. It is up to you to learn how to “deal with it”.

Fear will come from the simple fact, you don't have any idea of what is going on, how to survive, when you will be rescued and other things. This is all normal.

Anxiety is closely associated with fear. It is an uneasy, apprehensive feeling you get when you face dangerous situations. Anxiety is brought on by fear. Dealing with emotional stress when it comes to these two can go one of two ways. The good way is, it will force you to do something about the situation, which means you resolve the problem and the anxiety will go away. Once that goes away, the fear will leave to. The bad way is, you dwell on the problem but don't do anything about it. That will eventually lead to depression, because you start thinking “There is nothing that I can do to make this better” instead of “What can I do to get out of this”.

Wilderness survival tip:
Stress will hamper your decision making process. Don't try to make difficult decisions when you are under a lot of stress. It will only cause frustration and that makes more stress for you. Sit down and relax for a while.

Depression is part of dealing with emotional stress and is also closely linked with anger and frustration but is also linked to all the emotions. This is the one to watch out for. It will set in when you get worn out and think you can't go on anymore. You will get frustrated when nothing seems to work for you, which will lead into anger, and when that doesn't work you get more frustrated and the cycle continues. Eventually you get worn out dealing with it, physically, emotionally and mentally. Then you start thinking those thoughts described above.

Anger and frustration will set in at times simply because not everything that you try to do will work. You will have to find a method that works in order to reach your goal, which is to survive until you find help or help finds you. You will also have to find a way to channel that anger into energy that you can use to survive. Use it to rebuild your shelter, find food, do something useful. You can't afford to waste any energy.

Wilderness survival tip:
Stress will diminish the motor skill that you need for minute detail work and concentration. Any tasks that need these skills should be avoided because the chance of injury is much higher.

Another thing that will come up when dealing with emotional stress is loneliness and boredom. We are used to being around other people. Isolation is not a bad thing necessarily, again it depends on how you deal with it. You can soon find out exactly how creative you are. The secret to overcoming this is to stay busy. Build something you can put to use, snare, traps, a better shelter, find firewood. There will be plenty to do. Or you can just sit down and do nothing, In that case, good luck.

You may start to feel some guilt, which is also normal. You start thinking of ways that you could have prevented the situation, you may feel guilty if someone that you were with didn't make it. Put those thoughts out of your head, you can deal with them later. You main goal is that you get out alive. Again, staying busy will help by putting other thoughts in your mind.

When it comes to dealing with emotional stress the best thing you can do is to take care of the problems before it get to this point. Remember, your goal is to make it out alive. Don't ever forget that. These emotion factors can play a major role in your situation if you let them. Learning how to deal with those before you even go into the wilderness is the best method you can use. Prepare yourself. Being prepared involves knowing that your reactions in a survival setting are productive, not destructive.

Wilderness survival tip:
One of the body's natural reactions to stress is what is called an “adrenaline dump”. It puts large doses of adrenaline into your body and brain. It will make you feel lethargic afterwards. Take the time to let the body recover and restore natural adrenaline levels.

Understanding your stress levels when dealing with emotional stress is also very important. Get to know your limitations, in other words, learn what you are capable of. Learn how to conquer your fears. Once you do that you will build confidence that you can work through anything that comes up. You need to be realistic, see things for what they are, not what you want them to be. If you end up in a survival situation with unrealistic expectations you are setting yourself up for disappointment. That will lead into the emotional stress outlined above.

You will need a positive attitude and training to deal with emotional stress, which is why you are here. Take all the information contained in this guide and practice it. Use it, perfect it. It may well save you some day. Hopefully you will never need it, but you need to be prepared. Do not just read this information and not practice it. Most of these techniques are much more difficult than what they seem to be on the surface. Go to your neighborhood park or find a woods somewhere that you can practice in. The best way to practice is to go to a professional survival course. Some websites will be listed at the end.

Following this guide will help develop “the attitude of survival”.

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