What we all need right about now….
July 24, 2019
In wilderness medicine, we love mnemonic devices to remember all the steps we must take in an emergency situation. Over the years I’ve learned many of those mnemonics and it recently occurred to me that they are also useful as a guide to good living!
Below is an example of one method I’ve learned to assess a scene and administer proper care.
Number 1. Who is number one? I am!
Number 2. What happened to you?!
Number 3. Don’t get any on me!
Number 4. How many more?
Number 5. Dead or alive?
As it turns out this is also a superb metaphor for good living with the added bonus… it rhymes!
Number 1- Who is number 1? I am!
Before we enter a scene or emergency situation we need to remember to check for safety. The cardinal rule for any type of wilderness medicine is DON’T BECOME A VICTIM YOURSELF!
The logic behind this is that you are no good to anyone if you get injured or become yet another victim. We always want to be happy and healthy before we attempt to help others.
This is true in life. We want to make sure we have personally met Maslow’s basic needs before we can offer assistance to anyone. There is a reason that flight attendants advise you to put the oxygen mask on yourself in an airplane BEFORE trying to help others.
Make sure you are OK first!
It’s a basic human need to want to belong to a group (friends, family, society) and one of the key factors to happiness and fulfillment is contributing to and being part of something bigger than ourselves.
But we can’t do that until we’ve taken care of ourselves first.
Here are a few tips to make that happen:
1) Breathe- as simple as this may sound. It’s a recurring theme in yoga, meditation, and mindfulness. You’re doing it all the time anyway so why not try and pay attention to your breath? It’s free, can be one anywhere and there are plenty of meditation and yoga techniques for this online!
Here are some of my favorites that you might want to look up:
o Wim Hof Method
o The Oxygen Advantage- Patrick McKeown
2) Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants- Michael Pollan
What this means to me is:
o Reduce processed foods & limit foods that have too much white sugar
o Eat whole foods
o Don’t drink too many calories (i.e. sodas etc.)
3) Move your body
o Sometimes move fast for short distances (sprinting, HIIT)
o Sometimes move slow for long distances (walking or cycling)
o Sometimes move heavy things (resistance training, lifting weights).
4) Connect with your spirit
o Get outside and play
o Join a community or interest group
o Do some service in your community and contribute to a cause
o Meditate and stretch (yoga)
In the end, we all want to be healthy, happy, and live meaningful and fulfilling lives. But it seems that we’ve gotten too carried away with work, stress, and a million obligations and distractions to take time for ourselves.
If that’s true then we can’t possibly reach the pinnacle of Maslow’s Hierarchy or begin to contribute to the collective good. To avoid this, we’ve got to get back to basics and remember what’s most important and align our actions with our values.
So make sure to slow down and take care of yourself.
And remember: Who is number 1? I am!
Number 2- What happened to you?
In an emergency scenario, we always want to assess the victim or patient and determine what kind of care we should offer.
In life, we want to do this too.
We’ve all had hard times. We always will. More will come. It’s guaranteed.
It pays to remember this for both ourselves and others before we make quick judgments. We never know the experiences others have had until we slow down and take the time to talk to each other and truly listen. If we can do this then we usually discover we have a lot more in common than we initially think.
Personally, I’ve faced quite a few crazy situations and had many painful and hard times in life.
I’ve been swept downstream in the Chattahoochee River when the dam was opened to release water. I was trout fishing just below the dam and when a wall of rushing white water swept us away. I was certain that my mom and I would drown. Luckily, we were washed up onto an island and rescued by some other folks that were fishing that day too.
I’ve been through a traumatic and painful divorce when my ex-wife was beaten nearly to death by an intruder that had broken into our house. We both suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and could not reconcile our relationship. It was truly one of the darkest and toughest times of my life. Luckily, we’re both OK now and remain friends but to say it was difficult cannot begin to capture how hard that time was.
I’ve been in a head-on collision with an escaped convict that was running from the cops and smacked me head-on and injured my neck and spine. I was extracted from a burning vehicle by Emergency Medical Services and hospitalized. The police posted guards at the door of my hospital room because the felon's gangster friends threatened my life. They blamed me for the accident and his capture. They were going to make me pay!
I’ve also been a refugee from a volcano that threatened to erupt in Bali. My wife, daughter, and I fled on a motorbike in the middle of the night and drove into the darkness, panic, and chaos not knowing our fate or future.
Yet here I am. And here you are.
No one has the ideal or perfect life regardless of what you see on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Because that’s not how life works. We all have a history of ups and downs. We cannot control what happens to us. But we can control how we respond, react and how we view those experiences and what we do with those life lessons.
As one of my friends told me recently ‘Kenny, you think it’s all good in the end. And if it ain’t good, well then it ain’t the end’.
So, when you meet someone consider this. Listen to their story. Truly listen and try to understand. Don’t be quick to judge. Practice Empathy and Sympathy. We never know the struggles others are facing. Small acts of kindness go a long way.
And always remember to take it easy on yourself when life throws you curveballs.
Number 3- Don’t get any on me!
In any emergency situation, we want to avoid contamination or any contact with bodily fluids of the victim or patient. We can’t risk infection. We call it BSI (Body Substance Isolation) which are basically gloves, goggles, and a mask.
In our daily lives, we all have toxic colleagues, friends, or family that seem to relish in anger and general negativity. They seem unhappy unless others around them are also miserable.
To avoid becoming infected with their issues and negativity we need to don our emotional and psychological BSI.
Knowing what you can control and what you cannot control is a crucial first step. This is highlighted very well in Stoic philosophy. It is one of their basic tenets and is known as the Dichotomy of Control.
It is also summarized in the popular serenity prayer:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.”
Knowing what we can control and what we cannot is key to our own personal happiness and well-being. It also guides us when we look to offer assistance to others.
We cannot control others. We can only control our reaction and response to others.
We can’t make others happy. We can only be happy ourselves and hope that serves as an example and inspiration to those around us.
We cannot control our wealth, popularity, or what others think of us. We can only be our best and do our best work.
Make sure to protect yourself and know what you can and cannot control.
Refer to Rule #1 and don’t get any on me!
Number 4- How many more?
When you assess a scene or accident you want to know how many victims there are so you can plan the next steps.
In our daily lives, you can ask yourself how many people have you impacted? Was it a positive or negative impact?
Did you share your knowledge or skills with anyone? Were you inspired by anyone today?
We all have some impact on those around us. Every day. And vice versa.
It will serve us well if we strive to inspire others or serve as a good example to others while remembering we control our reactions and response to others even though we cannot control their actions.
In the words of Marcus Aurelius:
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own.
In the end, we are all the same trying to find our way, attempting to climb Maslow’s mountain. We all breathe the same air and drink the same water.
Once you know this and begin to incorporate these ideas and practices into your life how many people can you influence? How many more?
Number 5- Dead or Alive?
In emergency situations, this is used for triage. We want to help those that need assistance. But we cannot help someone that is already dead.
This is perhaps the toughest decision a Wilderness Medic or First Responder must make.
Who do we help first when there are so many in need of care?
In our daily lives, this will also be incredibly difficult. We can only help those that want help and are trying to help themselves.
In the end, this is a personal journey. We can’t help those that don’t want to be helped.
Individually, we all must decide to do something and act to improve our lives or our situation.
Just doing something and getting started will help steamroll the process and jolt you into a positive and productive daily routine.
This will then turn into a self-perpetuating cycle of doing->reflecting->improving->doing.
Passion is the result of action not the cause of it.
How do we choose and how do we decide who we can help?
There is no easy answer, but in the end, the seeking becomes the journey and the answer.
