Survival Skills: Adopt Adaptability

Adaptability is one of the crown jewels of the survival mindset. The Cambridge Dictionary defines adaptability as “an ability or willingness to change in order to suit different conditions”. To be adaptable, you must be able to change along with changing events, situations and environments. It’s all about flexibility and trying new options. You may not make it home to your own bed if you get lost in the woods one afternoon. An adaptable person will assess the situation and realize that their own bed isn’t an option, so they’ll have to adapt. They find a new place to sleep. Since there’s no water faucet in the wild, they’ll find a new source of water. There’s no fridge either, so they’ll find a new source of food. These “substitutions” may not be great, but they’ll be good enough for now. An adaptable survivor can embrace change, while recognizing the things that are worth continuing and the things that need to be abandoned.

The Problem: What can prevent you from adapting? Stubbornness can do it. Sometimes, we may think of stubbornness as a good thing (confusing it with tenacity), but stubbornness is often a stumbling block. It’s a refusal to adapt and a rejection of new things. You’ve driven around the town ten times, and still can’t find the building you need, but you refuse to ask for directions. That’s stubbornness. You keep throwing lit matches at the same crappy pile of wet tinder - even though it isn’t lighting. That’s also stubbornness.

The Remedy: This one’s easier said than done. Check your ego at the door and be ready to try something new. Stubbornness is like trying to break down a brick wall with your head. You know it’s not going to work after the first strike, but you keep going down the path to self-destruction. Instead of stubbornly repeating the same thing, try some new approaches. Change isn’t all bad, and you might be surprised how well something new will work for (in survival and in other things).

Gaining some new survival skills is a great way to become more adaptable, and the easiest place to learn these skills is in one of our hands-on classes. Check out our schedule to see which of our upcoming classes will work best for you.

Written by Tim MacWelch First draft published on outdoorlife.com