Dear Mr. Les Stroud,
You’re one of my heroes.
You seem authentic, humble, and down-to-earth consistently. And when it comes to survival, you’re the real deal. And I’m learning to survive from you.
In his show, Survivorman, Mr. Stroud throws himself into extreme, wild environments without anyone nearby—sometimes for hundreds of miles. No safety nets, no backup support, no fancy equipment. Just himself, some random stuff, and his cameras.
He falls into dangerous and desperate situations, but he always manages to survive.
Me? I’m buffeted by deadly illnesses, financial cliffs, shrinking options, social isolation, and no safe shelter. I’m in my own sort of harsh wilderness. So I need to be an Illness Survivorman. Because my situation is also life-or-death survival.
My suffering’s been so bad the past 4 days, that I thought of giving up earlier today.
But Mr. Stroud says: Never lose hope. Losing hope is the biggest threat in any survival situation.
Because once you lose hope, giving up becomes a clear and logical choice.
It’s okay to recognize a hopeless situation for what it is. But it’s not okay to lose one’s ability to conjure hope from hopelessness. To conjure hope from dust, air, or vacuum. This is the fundamental survival skill. Maybe even a super power.
Mr. Stroud is in the cold, drenched rain. He desperately needs a fire to survive, but he doesn’t have a fire starter. It’s a hopeless situation.
And yet, time and time again, he does it. He finds a way to conjure fire.
Thank you, Mr. Stroud.
Reply