Heroic Journey: Finding the Will to Survive in the Wilderness
()
About this ebook
Wilderness survival guides consistently identify the will to live as the most important factor for overcoming an emergency. Knowledge, skill, and equipment are always considered as secondary. However, the ever increasing number of survival guides rarely devote more than half a sentence to the subject, preferring instead to move on to skill and equipment.
Survival guides say little if anything about what the will to live is or how to get one. The assumption is that you either have the will to live or you do not. And if not, you are out of luck. Nonsense! For many of us, especially those with PTSD or similar afflictions, the will to live cannot be taken for granted. Yet neither is it unattainable.
This book is not a conventional survival guide. Heroic Journey: Finding the Will to Survive in the Wilderness discusses the components that make up a will to live and the deeper foundations that make having one possible. We then take a look at the inner workings of how wilderness heals. By using less gear and older techniques without compromising safety, those whose life is a daily struggle can discover and connect with their inner foundations for survival.
Heroic Journey: Finding the Will to Survive in the Wilderness provides tools to survive not just in the wilderness, but back in the city as well.
Kurt Thompson
When not working: - Member at MyPTSD.com - Backpacker - Vision quester - Photographer - Writer Now working on short stories and a novel.
Related to Heroic Journey
Related ebooks
98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Survival: A Prepper's Guide to Life after the Crash Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBushcraft: Bushcraft Skills For Beginners Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Disaster Survival Handbook: Escape, Evasion, and Survival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Green Beret Survival Guide: Advice on Situational Awareness, Personal Safety, Recognizing Threats, and Avoiding Terror and Crime Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Beginner's Guide to Winter Survival: How to Survive Cold Weather Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSEAL Survival Guide: Active Shooter and Survival Medicine Excerpt Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Bivouac Handbook (A No-Nonsense Guide to Austere Wildnerness Camping) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpotting Danger for Travelers: Build situational awareness to keep safe while traveling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurvival Skills You Cannot Live Without Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Prepared: The 8 Secret Skills of an Ex-IDF Special Forces Operator That Will Keep You Safe - Basic Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Beginner’s Guide to Desert Survival Skills: Knowledge and Skills to Survive in the Desert Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Neighborhood Emergency Response Handbook: Your Life-Saving Plan for Personal and Community Preparedness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Surviving the Apocalypse: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Nuclear War, Floods, Fire, Earthquakes, Civil Unrest, Pandemics, and More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCamp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWarrior Mindset Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKrav Maga Self Defense Explained Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPREPAREDNESS NOW!: An Emergency Survival Guide (Expanded and Revised Edition) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Goju: The Roar of the Tigress. The real self-defense for women only Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ultimate Guide to Survival Shelters: How to Build Temporary Refuge in Any Environment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBackpacker's Start-Up: A Beginners Guide to Hiking and Backpacking Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Home Guard Training Pocket Manual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Build Survival Shelters: Tips and Techniques Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Surviving Out of Your Backpack: A Guide to Survival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVibrant Life: The Book Combo Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Wilderness Chef: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Outdoors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUrban Survival: When the World as You Know It Has Changed Overnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Sports & Recreation For You
The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Zen in the Art of Archery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Advanced Bushcraft: An Expert Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ultimate BodyWeight Workout: Transform Your Body Using Your Own Body Weight Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Strength Training for Women: Training Programs, Food, and Motivation for a Stronger, More Beautiful Body Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding: The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hard Knocks: An enemies-to-lovers romance to make you smile Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Body by Science: A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga: The Philosophy and Practice of Yin Yoga Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Guide to Improvised Weaponry: How to Protect Yourself with WHATEVER You've Got Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Field Guide to Knots: How to Identify, Tie, and Untie Over 80 Essential Knots for Outdoor Pursuits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In Golf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World's Greatest Racehorse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baseball 100 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fishing for Dummies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arthur: The Dog who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Heroic Journey
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Heroic Journey - Kurt Thompson
Heroic Journey: Finding the Will to Survive in the Wilderness
by Kurt Thompson
Copyright © 2017 Kurt Thompson
All rights reserved
Cover and photographs, copyright © 2017 Kurt Thompson
Contents
Too Important for Words
What Exactly is the Will to Live?
Core Worth and Positive Life Narrative
Purpose and Feeling Part of a Larger Whole
The Heroic Journey
Original Therapy: How Wilderness Heals
Minimalism and Self Reliance
Tracking
Solo
Vision Quest
Your Duty to Return
Appendix: Educational Resources
Wilderness Survival and Vision Quest
Suggested Reading
Too Important for Words
Having survival skills is important; having the will to survive is essential.
–US Army, Field Manual 21-76 Survival
You can have all the knowledge and kit in the world but without the will to live you can still perish.
–Lofty Wiseman, SAS Survival Handbook
The ability for a person to prevail in a survival situation is based on three factors: survival knowledge, equipment, and will to survive. All are important, but the most important is the will to survive.
–Gregory J. Davenport, Wilderness Survival
Survival guides consistently deem the will to survive (or will to live) as the most important factor for overcoming an emergency in the wilderness. Skill, knowledge, and equipment are always considered secondary. Lofty Wiseman illustrates the idea in his SAS Survival Handbook with the Will to Live forming the base of a pyramid, Knowledge in the middle layer, and Kit (equipment) forming the apex.
However, authors of the increasing number of wilderness survival guides rarely devote more than a sentence to the will to live, preferring instead to move right on to skill and equipment. The assumption is that you either have the will to live or you do not, and little more need be said about it. Gregory J. Davenport, in Wilderness Survival, summed it up like this: Unfortunately the will to survive cannot be taught in a book. Increasing your knowledge of survival skills and understanding of related gear, on the other hand, can.
Some authors have devoted a few additional sentences to the subject. Mykel Hawke’s Green Beret Survival Manual provides his will as an example. Hawke swears that even should he die, his body parts and cells will fight on. Les Stroud’s Will to Live: Dispatches from the Edge of Survival provides examples of how a will to live often makes a difference. Yet these books only reinforce the importance of having a will to survive.
Others have devoted a great deal of space to survival psychology and how to function in the face of fear. Cody Lundin, in 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive devotes several chapters to understanding the physiology and psychology of survival and boils that down into very practical advice for mitigating the effects of fear. Laurence Gonzales, in Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why uses real life accounts to demonstrate the psychological processes at work in emergencies. Many of his examples demonstrate Lundin’s coping techniques in action.
Still, survival guide authors say little if anything about what the will to live is, and say nothing at all about how to obtain one. The will to survive is taken for granted. For many of us, a will to survive cannot be taken for granted. Books about staying alive in the wilderness and those about healing in it are separated by only a few shelves (or clicks), yet do not seem to influence each other. As someone that has spent nearly my entire life struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it was disconcerting to read one book and realize that the base of my pyramid was structurally unsound, and read another that said wilderness heals. It was like being told I had no business going where the healing could be found.
I am far from alone. Those that suffer from disorders like PTSD make up a significant part of the population. About 6.8% will develop PTSD at some point in their lives, due to abuse, war, or other traumatic experiences. Victims of child sexual abuse have a 40% chance of developing PTSD. Roughly 18% of veterans, including those in Special Operations, develop PTSD, which is about the same percentage as adult victims of sexual abuse. These numbers are certainly underestimates due to under-reporting and the culture of silence surrounding abuse issues and mental health in general. Odds are high that either you suffer from one of these ailments or you know others that do.
With disorders borne of deep psychological scars, a dizzying array of stimuli can trigger debilitating psychological processes. Even in normal life at home, at work, or at school, it can be hard for us to stay calm and think clearly. That makes us vulnerable if an emergency arises. Yet wilderness can heal those wounds. Hence the conundrum: to get out there and safely soak up the healing power of nature, we need to learn wilderness survival skills and we need a will to live. The