MIND OF A SURVIVOR
In our safe, organised and opulent modern lives, do you ever wonder: ‘If the world as we know it collapsed, could I survive in the wild?’
Megan Hine is the real deal when it comes to survival, leading people on mountainous expeditions into true wilderness all over the world, and advising on TV’s most popular survival shows. Mind of a Survivor is a reflective journey on what it takes to survive and thrive, not just in the wild but in everyday life. Here Megan draws on her lifetime of adventures, expeditions and very real life and death experiences to add colour and drama to a fascinating book.
Megan describes how she has seen the most unsuspecting of characters surprise themselves and others with a resilience and resourcefulness they did not know they had. Survivors tend not to be those you might expect, and she shows how the characteristics seen in the best of them are traits we all have and can tap into. I found her views often resonating with my own experiences of difficult situations I’ve faced, prompting me to examine my own emotions, fears, responses and capabilities as I read.
‘Intuition’, ‘gut feeling’, ‘unconscious mind’, and ‘emotional intelligence’ are all words used to describe a sixth sense that we all have, and one of the elements of survival that Megan encourages us to tune into in her book. She explains that interestingly this sense comes from 98% of brain activity which is unconscious and filtered out – but is a resource that can increase empathy towards others and our environment and be really useful in survival situations.
As the effects of modern day life increasingly impact on the nation’s mental health, Megan is a huge advocate for the positive effect of the wilderness. Taken to an extreme, on many of her expeditions and also some reality TV shows she has witnessed first-hand the transformative impact on people when life is stripped back to a primitive mode of existence.
Mind of a Survivor is an inspiring read from a British adventurer who is not only breaking boundaries in her own life and career, but also emerging as a worthy role model for men and women alike who have an interest in being able to improvise, adapt and overcome. Review by Jenna Maryniak