Every survivor worth salt is familiar with the basic skills necessary to continue living when the SHTF occurs, or other adverse situation arises. Many survival experts have come up with extensive lists detailing activities like creating fire from scratch, finding a clean and safe source of water, protecting yourself and many others.
Unfortunately, many survival skills that would make life in the wilderness or other hostile situation easier tend to get left out, depriving survivalists of essential knowledge that would make survival a lot easier. Below are 5 overlooked survival skills that should be a part of every survivalist’s repertoire and which can make surviving a lot easier, with limited resources and minimum capital outlay.
Equipping Yourself With The Right Tools
Modern conveniences have rendered most if not all of us essentially helpless without the presence of electrical gadgets and other items necessary for day to day life. Few of us own any tools or appliances or tools that would help us survive in adverse situations and the presence of stores that carry almost anything we need has made many of us too lazy to explore alternatives that we can use should the items we need no longer be available.
Ancient cultures were privy to knowledge that has died out today, including making and equipping yourself with tools that can ensure your survival in any situation. Fortunately, more and more survival experts are providing us with information on how to locate or make the tools we would need in a survival situation. Items like a rechargeable LED light, fire starters, tents, hammocks and ropes/cords can be easily located at stores or made from a few simple items in your home.
Medical Knowledge
While many survivalists are familiar with basic first aid skills, few have taken the time to learn about medicinal herbs and other natural remedies that you can use in the absence of health facilities.
Fortunately, military outfits, natural health practitioners, the internet and online libraries contain essential knowledge about alternative medicine, and anyone willing to educate themselves can have access to many of these resources for free.
Unless you are extremely lucky, you are unlikely to have access to medical facilities or a medical professional in emergency situations or if they happen to be available, they will most likely be overwhelmed with ill or injured people seeking immediate attention. The onus is thus on you to learn as much as you can about how to survive where there is no doctor and modern medical facilities are unavailable.
Physical Fitness
Primitive cultures had no access to fossil fuels and other energy sources available to us today. Relying heavily on animals and crude forms of transportation in order to get around, most people had to be extremely physically fit and strong in order to manoeuvre and control animals and heavy structures such as carts.
In addition, people often travelled long distances on foot in search of grazing land or to escape adverse weather conditions. It was not unusual for entire villages to travel up to 8 hours a day on foot to find the resources they needed for survival. This meant that every member of a tribe or village, unless they were very old, infirm or pregnant, had to exhibit very high levels of physical fitness in order to carry out these excursions.
Our jobs and lifestyles have made many of us soft and unfit and thus extremely unlikely to survive in situations that would require trekking for long distances or gruelling physical activities such as building a structure from scratch.
Fortunately, you can bring your physical fitness up to par by taking part in vigorous, strenuous activity including long distance walking and running several times a week. Be sure to invest in a good quality pair of hiking boots to protect your feet from injury and enable you to cover longer and longer distances over rough terrain.
Food Preservation
Big Agri, Fast food, the invention of the refrigerator and the advent of the internet have made food practically available on our doorsteps and easy to store for months with very little effort on our part. The result is that many of us have no idea how to stop food from spoiling if we have to live in the wild or in situations where modern amenities are unavailable.
Our ancestors had learned how to preserve meat from a hunt or slaughtered domestic animals or produce from agriculture to get them through the months when game was unavailable or agriculture was not possible. Survivalists today will need to re-learn the lost arts of canning, smoking, salting, drying and other food preservation methods if they are to ensure they have enough foods to survive in adverse conditions.
Blacksmithing and Carpentry
Blacksmithing and carpentry used to be skills that almost anyone who wanted to build a home or make a few basic tools would possess. Today, with the advent of mechanization and assembly line manufacturing, these processes are performed on a large scale and mostly automated. This means that if you need some tools or furniture, or need some construction done, you will either have to hire a professional or purchase a prefabricated generic home made in a factory.
If civilisation collapses or you find yourself in a situation where no modern conveniences or services are available, you will need to have skills that allow you to create the tools and structures you need for survival. Fortunately, online classes, DIY books and even artisan courses at your local college can help you master these skills, and equip you with the knowledge necessary to fashion items from scratch if need be.
Conclusion
Surviving in adverse conditions need not be a difficult and contrived undertaking. By equipping yourself with the right skills and tools, you should be able to ensure that life continues with a semblance of normalcy even if everything is falling apart around you. Taking time to prepare well before adversity strikes is paramount and can mean the difference between you and your family surviving, or perishing with the millions of people who will be caught unawares.
Fortunately, the tools to prepare for the coming disasters are becoming increasingly available in the form of knowledge and material resources. By taking time to learn all about the skills and resources you need for survival, mastering these and stockpiling on necessary items, you should be able to ensure you and your family’s survival until things return to normal.
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Louise is the founder of TheAdventureLand, where she and her associates blog about Outdoor experiences, tips & tricks that will help you have an exciting adventure. She is also a tour guide of travel company where she learned many things about wilderness. “Let’s pack our bags and explore the world!”
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