Why would I do something like this, surrounded by danger??- where I just risked my life?

I just survived an adventure in the forest in the middle of winter. It was pouring with rain (with no tent & lots of danger) - here's what I learnt & how it can help you too - today in both your personal and professional life... 

P.S It's taken me over 3 hours to write, put together and publish so I really hope that you get a lot from it as desired.

For context - I believe that most people sit at this level of 'comfortable' because...

Well, it's - it's comfortable.

What this means is that it takes us much longer to achieve what we want in life because we're not really pushing ourselves, unlocking our true ability (in both life & business) & stepping outside of our 'comfort zone' far enough.

When we start to push boundaries (and it does feel uncomfortable) - we come out the other side so much stronger. Most people have been through challenging times in their lives and you may be familiar with the saying 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' - well, it's 100% true.

The Biggest Dangers Of Me Dying

• Falling trees (known as widow makers)
• Hypothermia
• Dehydration
• Smoke Inhalation (Carbon Monoxide)
• Knife & Saw Safety (hitting the main artery)

So Why Did I Do This?

I like to challenge myself, continually learn and improve myself on a daily basis.

It's surprising how little by little really mounts up.

The Challenge - SURVIVE!

Here's what happened...

10am - Set out to find a suitable location in the woods - this needed to be away from the risk of any falling trees (known as widow makers!) and big branches. The trees need to be configured in the right way to help form the basis for the structure and also facing the right way in relation to the proverbial wind - so that the fire doesn't blow directly at you in your shelter which could lead to the equivalent of carbon monoxide poisoning.

10:30am - Started building the exterior frame of the shelter, then filling in the gaps of the shelter with appropriate sizes of large sticks and branches.

12pm - Started to gather and collect leaves ??and soil from the ground and began to 'thatch' the exterior of the shelter to keep the rain and wind out. This involved a lot of squatting down and up and was really quite brutal even though not heavy - you need A LOT of this stuff (around 40 full black sacks worth).

13:00 - From surrounding areas - began making and collecting 'firewood' as a lot was going to be required in order to keep the fire going for around 15 hours.

13:45 - After more than 3 hours continual manual labour without resting - I began to tire a little so took a break from the manual work and began collecting silver birch in order to scrape the inside in order to light the fire.

Success - got a flame going in minutes using sparks from a fireSteel (used by a number of army's around the world).

Failure - it's winter and everything is pretty much wet. I fail to prepare enough pencil, finger and thumb-sized twigs and branches to actually build the fire once it's going.

14:30pm - Take a step back. Assess. Remove everything and 'start again'.

Build more of a 'fire pit' area with a small hole in the ground to start the fire. Got a fire going but in the form a pyramid rather than being flat - which meant that there were too many gaps and therefore the fire didn't have fuel close enough to keep growing. A lesson for next time. Keep the sticks flat. Remember the 3 sides of a fire triangle - a fire needs Oxygen (air), Fuel (sticks) and Heat to work.

15:45 - Been out of water (as in it's run out rather than I went swimming!) for a couple of hours - so found a water source to stay hydrated and fill up the water bottle. Headache, likely from using up a lot of energy on one banana and never experiencing such ongoing exertion like this before. Only an hour left of sunlight.

16:15 - More thatch collection to protect my shelter from wind, cold and rain and use some to create a bedding area inside the shelter. Continue collecting firewood.

It doesn't look like much from the photo - but if you think how much energy it takes to locate and source just one bit of this shelter and how this could literally save your life - it's quite powerful.

17:00 - Set-up backup sleeping area with a piece of tarpaulin as HEAVY RAIN is due and if the shelter leaks and I get wet - I risk hypothermia.

17:20 - Sunlight gone. Headtorch on. Not much energy left but feeling a good sense of achievement having built a fire, shelter - I also have water so now just need food.

17:45 - Start preparing food (left out the details here purposely!). Looking forward to getting some energy back. The landscape is now very different and difficult to navigate in the pitch black. I use landmarks, count and re-trace my steps to do this.

19:30 - Start cooking dinner and sit down for the first time since 10am. Have a drop of well-earned whisky and continue to keep the fire going ??. Amazing what hot food does for you. I was exhausted but happy, having achieved the four elements of survival...so far.

20:30 - Dinner is amazing. I look up at the beautiful stars and think about life.

22:15 - I get into my shelter and continue to feed the fire from there. My shelter is small (purposely built this way to retain heat) and uncomfortable and very far away from my nice big warm bed at home - but it's keeping me from the wind and cold and keeping me alive.

The wind changes direction, swirls and starts blowing wood smoke right at me for an extended period of time. It hurts my eyes. I can't really breathe properly. I cover my nose and mouth to avoid inhaling and risking poisoning and find a small pocket of air in my shelter. This carries on for 30 minutes or more and I'm hoping that the wind will change direction again soon as I can't stay here like this for much longer.

I have a long wool blanket but it needs to cover me underneath as well as on top and doesn't quite fit all the way around. Every time I move - I have to rejig the blanket as if I'm exposed underneath the blanket - I risk getting wet from the damp which could mean me having to re-locate to my backup tarp (which I don't want to do!) or getting hypothermia!

Mistake - My bedding area of leaves ideally needed to be x5 as much (another hours work) but time didn't allow, and although I'm not directly on the cold ground - my manmade bed has sunk very close to it. I lie awake, thinking about the long day and all that I have learnt and achieved.

The fire is keeping me warm, but the temperature is dropping further and the firewood is getting used up and running out quickly.

12am - It starts to rain. My shelter holds up. Success. I manage to doze for a few hours - waking each time to re-jig my blanket. I'm cold. I'm close to shivering but trying to avoid it as this is the onset of hypothermia. I cover my face completely in the wool blanket and curl up to retain heat.

2:30am - The fire goes out(!), due to there being too many gaps to continue burning and of course the now heavy rain. I feel a couple of drips near my feet and above my head. This could be trouble if it turns into more than just a few drops.

3am - The rain is relentless and by now is hammering it down. My clothes are not wet but so cold - it feels like they are. I haven't been able to feel my feet for hours. They are numb. I squash into my shelter even more and my face is now against the sticks. The powerful rain is noisy and coming down fast just inches from me.

Without fire, it's now VERY cold. I'm mentally and physically exhausted, aching, tired and I start to question why I'm doing this. I then remind myself why and quickly turn that negative into a positive.

I have a very restless night.

5.25am - After more than 5 hours of rain - it finally stops and I get the most sleep I've had all night. The ground next to me is completely saturated.

7.21am - It's pitch black still, but I'm starting to see light quickly - the more I watch. The birds are awake and noisy. I feel my clothes, unsure if I'm wet or not (so cold it's not clear) - they are still dry. The blanket is completely sodden at the base (glad I chose to have my head on the other side!). I'm freezing but have a great feeling of success and achievement, knowing that light is literally around the corner.

Here's a photo of where I slept.

What I learnt & reflected on

1) Planning and strategy is everything. Luckily this is one of my core skills. The plan constantly evolved as new obstacles arose - that's life. Having the fundamentals down, knowing what you have to do and how much time you have to do them in (regardless of if they are perfect) - is key to achieving in both life and business.

2) It's important to manage your stress and although this wasn't a problem for me - the fatigue, mental and physical exhaustion does hit you and it influences your thinking, logic, actions and behaviour. You're no good flapping around. In reality, if I had taken a step back on the fire situation - it could have saved 45 minutes which could have been spent thatching the shelter further or making the bedding area (eg a lot more leaves) more comfortable. As you get tired, it becomes much harder to continue to think with clarity. Take a step back to assess / re-assess any situation that isn't going to plan - as soon as possible.

3) I'm grateful on a daily basis for all I have. However, It's very easy for us all to take for granted the basics that we all need for survival: Shelter, Water, Food & Fire / Warmth. Sometime's our lives can get hard - it's what makes the good times so good, but let's also remember to remind ourselves daily how lucky we are too for everything that we do have. #greatfulness

4) It's hard to imagine how the #homeless do this on a daily basis. It's hard. Imagine everything else in your life was non-existant and each day was purely a battle for your survival, up against the powerful elements - that's all that mattered. And even now we have countries where the main priorities are day to day survival. I give to charities and help the homeless, but this has given me even more empathy and a deeper level of understanding - having been through this. It's very easy to ignore the homeless on our streets (most people do) - but if you're worried that they won't spend money on a hostel - there are other huge ways of helping them - like a hot cup of tea or coffee or some food. #empathy #surival

5) We've become too accustomed to having everything on 'tap'. We order more from the internet and #Amazon, we hoard more, we buy more and consequently...we waste more. I believe that we could all be more #resourceful and not only will it help our planet...but also we'll have less clutter in our lives, less stress and it will save us money too. #win

6) We spend too much time on our #phones rather than enjoying everything that life has to offer. This also includes communicating in person. There's so much that you can give and learn from others just through talking in person. We've become accustomed to being on our phones all of the time. If we can try and reduce this just a little - to take more time for ourselves, to be #mindful, to spend with our #families - and truly be there in the moment and not in our phones...this will lead to us being #happier. #happiness

7) With the right tools, knowledge and attitude - ANYTHING is possible.

Continue to challenge yourself. You'll be surprised at what you can achieve and what it will do for your confidence in your own abilities so that the next time you come against something that's hard - you overcome it faster, better, easier. Continue to learn, enhance your skills and be the best you can be EVERY DAY - it will serve you.

I hope that you've enjoyed reading this, thank you for being here - I appreciate you - and more importantly, I hope that you have got at least one thing from it. I'm getting tons of private messages in response to me posting this - I would be HUGELY grateful if you could let me know you've been here with a quick like and post your comments, thoughts and observations down below - I'd love to learn the 1 thing that's been most helpful for you from this (and even a quick share would mean the world to me in order to help others too).

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Darren Sassienie - As Seen on TV ??

The Ultimate #1 LinkedIn Business Expert

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