Survival. What does that word mean to you?
Realizing the extent of surviving and what that means today in this ever-changing world has given me some pause for thought. Survival, surviving, I have survived.
The variety and types of survival skills we need as humans to navigate current life waters is an ongoing challenge. If it's not obvious in the often unpredictable weather-related occurrences it's the most basic skills in navigating daily life needs such as groceries, rent, mortgage payments, utility payments and skyrocketing fuel prices adding additional stress to the skill it takes to survive creatively today. Not to mention health concerns, battling new seemingly indestructible diseases, and the skill required to stay bonded falling back on unconditional love to keep us tight.
I can't remember a trip to the grocery store in recent months with a small haul of essentials under $100. Never mind drugstore trips. It's become a stressful and so much less enjoyable task to shop, walking back our cart or basket choices to the shelves and choosing only the very key items. Feeling guilty grabbing the 'treats' yet aware of the fact we need a little lift once in awhile even though that chocolate ice cream or lemon meringue pie aren't the best choice from a health standpoint. I like the idea of ‘eat, pray and love’ as advised often today to ‘eat dessert first’ and trying something new.
We've heard relentlessly in recent years about the need to be prepared, experienced the results of not being as prepared as we thought we were through a global pandemic, yet realizing we just can never be completely prepared in life because ‘stuff’ just happens without warning.
Seeing the shock on my young 11-year-old grandson Ryder’s face when I explained the other evening that we didn’t have cell phones (we were talking about screen time and how hard it is to just put our devices aside kids or adults) when his Dad, uncles and auntie were very little. I said, “Imagine now not having a phone when travelling, looking things up, ordering online or even using your cell’s flashlight, calculator or calendar.” As we were talking low and behold, the power flashed off briefly and we both started to laugh, scrambling for our cell phones or a flashlight in the dark, finding them just as the power popped back on again. A sign of the times? A tap on the shoulder from …? We took a moment to hug having just experienced something we would always remember together.
Survival in generations before us became a topic during our remembering. Great grandma, Eva Buck, (nee Capostinsky), hauling her water in the logging camp below Grizzly mountain in buckets to cook, clean and do laundry in below zero temps when she fell through the ice, clawed her way back to the surface with three of her five kids watching from the cabin window. I’ll never forget how she said, “I told them not to move and they didn’t. I was pregnant and went through the ice. When I got out I looked up to see their faces, eyes wide, filled up my buckets and went back to the cookhouse.” That’s a survivor!
That grit, determination, resilience, and calm in the face of an emergency, it’s built in I think. Engrained. Genetics? Regardless of the benefits of technology and advancements in science, lifestyle enhancements and supposedly living longer overall on average, there is something within each of us, that will to succeed, carry on, and thrive that drives us forward or as Mom Buck proved, helps us to find our power through diversity and climb through the ice to survive.
I think we are pretty incredible, we humans, as we tap into the will to survive. How do you test your survival skills?
If you’d like to share your own survival story, ideas, or photos feel free to email me at: editor@clearwatertimes.com or hettie.buck@starjournal.net We’d love to hear from you! We’ve got you covered.
