Is “don’t quit” the best survival strategy?

Many survival experts tell us the key to survival is “don’t quit”. Yet what does that really mean? And is it really good advice?

What does “don’t quit” mean? Does it mean doggedly continuing on the path you are taking despite it going over a cliff? Obviously not! Does it mean repeatedly attempting the same action despite it failing each and every time? Or, does it mean sitting still and doing nothing and waiting to be rescued?

The last is a very viable strategy, particularly if in a vehicle stranded in an Australian desert and you left someone details of your route. “Don’t give up” means don’t give up on your plans. Your plan was to finish your journey so “quitting” is giving up on your plan to keep going. So “Don’t quit” must mean finishing your journey by getting out. Thus staying with your vehicle is “quitting”. That means quitting is not just the recommended advice, but the best advice.

So, does that mean the right advice is “Do quit”?

But, if you are a few days walk from help in a place where no one goes, and no one even knows you left your home, let alone where you went, there is no chance of anyone looking for you. It would be daft if you could easily walk to safety for you to just sit and wait in a place that no one goes for the miracle of someone coming to your isolated spot and finding you! You should quit waiting – quit quitting – and continue your original plan and make your way to safety.  Clearly if no one is going to find you where you are, you have to make your own way out or at least get somewhere where someone will see you.

A more apt piece of advice would be as follows:

Assess your situation, then make a plan. The two best options tend to be to either stay put and wait for help or to make your own way out. Once you decide which, stick to your plan and make it happen, but don’t be afraid to change if circumstances change. If you expect help within a few days, and none appears after a week, then perhaps something went wrong and no help is coming and then you must attempt to make your own way out. If, however you attempt to make your own way out, and that turns out to be impossible, then making your way back and staying put may still be your best option.

But now, I am saying “be adaptable”, which is tantamount to “be ready to quit your plan”.

So why are we told by so many people that “to survive you mustn’t quit”? The reason it seems to me, is that when people look for heroic stories of survival, they don’t want to hear the story of a person who broke down in the desert and then sat by their car until someone came to rescue them. Instead, they want to hear a story of a person that struggled against all odds to complete some form of miraculous escape. That is the story people want to tell and want to hear, and that is the story of someone “not quitting”.

So, the reality is the people who “don’t quit” aren’t better survivors, they are just better stories of “heroic” survival.

Thus the truth is this: if you want to survive, be prepared to be flexible and prepared to quit what you are doing. If however, you want to be the hero of someone’s story (possibly after you die trying to escape a situation you would have survived if you’d just sat down and waited for help) then doggedly pursue the path you have chosen wherever it leads and don’t quit.

Addendum

Of course, I fell into my own trap. The best survival strategy, is not the person who stayed with their vehicle and was rescued a couple of days later  or the one that “heroically” waded across crocodile infested swamps for a month losing both arms and legs to crawl out … barely alive … but the guy who prepared for their journey, and when the vehicle got stuck in soft sand, knew to simply let down the tyre pressure and drove out and had nothing much to tell the guys at the pub that night.

The best survival strategy, is preparation so that you never have to quit … and you have no story worth telling.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.