Morgan Rogue 07.25.22
I have the utmost respect for those who participant on the television show, Alone. I don’t judge a single one of them for any of their actions because desperation can lead to desperate actions. When it comes to 100% fending for yourself, there’s so many variables and so much unpredictability, especially when you’re dropped into a completely unknown area. The people who decide to go onto those shows are confident in their abilities and have the skills to survive.
At the time of writing this, season 9 is currently airing on History channel. I’ve seen several past seasons, but need to watch the very beginning seasons. I’d love to see the first season when absolutely nobody even knew what this show was about and why the heck anyone would want to survive in the wilderness alone.
This show is a true testament to mans ability to try to thrive in any situation.
How likely would this type of situation happen? Probably not often, to be honest. I think one of the couple scenarios would be a sinking ship and abandoned on an island, or a plane crash which wasn’t fatal and stranded you out in the middle of nowhere.
Other circumstances might be simply getting lost, like taking a wrong turn and straying from the trail.
Regardless, there are definitely some lessons we can learn from the show:
Food Diversity – everyone knows they need food to survive and they have to get it through foraging, hunting and fishing. What we see sometimes is people focusing too hard on just one of those options. They’ll either exclusively try to rely on fishing or they’ll exclusively only try to rely on foraging, etc. Diversity is one of the best ways to give yourself a leg up. Even indigenous people knew they needed to start gardening to get not only a greater chance of more food coming in, but also more nutrition.
Starvation is not a plan – though there was a winner who literally just out-starved everyone else because he had the body reserves, it’s certainly not a plan to rely on. Starvation is a terrible way to go and can have irreversible affects on your body and mind. It’s miserable and can absolutely make you do silly things because it’s having such a negative affect on your mind and motor skills and everything. In fact, because of Alone, I’ve wanted to prep even harder and improve my own hunting, foraging, fishing and gardening skills so that I can ensure we won’t ever go hungry.
Mindset is important – having a strong, survival mindset will take you far. We have seen the contestants face grizzly bears, injuries, lack of food, etc. The one commonality between all of them is their tenacity to continue on even in the face of what seems like absolute misery. Many people have tapped out simply because they have missed their families. Fear takes over. The idea of the unknown takes over. The thought of never eating again takes over. If you let all of this consume you, tapping out will be inevitable. We can all feel, we can all miss our families, we can all wonder where our next meal is coming from, but as long as we keep moving forward, and our body hasn’t given out yet, we can conquer anything.
It take a community – on Alone, you see people do absolutely everything themselves. They have to. They have to make shelter, they have to make tools, they have to forage, hunt, fish, gather water, make fires, cooking, smoking, clean themselves, entertain themselves, etc. They have to do absolutely everything themselves. This is a great lesson of why community is absolutely essential. We are not meant to do everything ourselves. While it is possible, as seen from the show, it’s not sustainable forever. Some people might make it look easy, but even they were suffering from starvation, lack of nutrients, loneliness and so on. We are a social creature and we’re creatures who thrive best when in a community.
Education is essential – when it comes to survival, knowing how to properly identify plants and animals is essential. Knowing how to make tools and how to set snares, these are all essential skills to know in these types of scenarios. Every single person is capable of these skills. They’re capable of surviving and thriving, as long as we have those baseline skills and education.
Illness can take you out – not just starvation but illness is a true concern when you’re out in the wild. Eat the wrong thing, drink some bad water (even if you knew you purified it) and if you start throwing up or having diarrhea, it can severely dehydrate you and without treatment, that could be deadly. Or you could eat something toxic, like there are a lot of deadly plants that look like edible plants, so proper identification is crucial. It’s all part of just being careful and understanding the plants, the animals, your body, understanding if you can treat it or if you need to tap out because it simply won’t stop. There was even an instance where someone was so malnourished that the body was taking circulation away from the extremities so their feet were getting frostbite much easier. So many variables.
We’re all capable of this challenge. But the biggest question is, for how long?
Could you survive in the wild alone?
More on survival from Morgan:
Wilderness Survival Hygiene – How Nature Can Help Keep Us Clean
