In today’s world, are we inactive able to cope without access to the Internet, power or telephone? Modern endurance is not only the art of burning fire, acquiring food and building shelter in the wild. It is above all the ability to last in a situation where overnight the comfort that a civilization based on modern technology can lack.
View of the city during an extended power outage in Spain and Portugal, Madrid 28 April 2025
Imagine an evening that starts like everyone else. You're lying on the couch, on the tv screen your favourite show. abruptly everything goes out. You look out the window – the darkness swept the full neighborhood. You scope for the telephone to see what's going on. No network. No Internet. At this point you're starting to feel anxious. On the street you can hear the first sirens of police cars and messages via a megaphone calling to stay home. It's been a twelve hours. The power's inactive gone, the grid's not coming back. In the taps, the water flows deeper and deeper.
People are leaving the home to see what's going on, trying to get money from ATMs. These don't work either. Cut off from their own resources, looting stores to get food. At night, in complete darkness, the streets take over gangs. Shots fired, riots...
It's not a disaster movie scenario. This was the start of a blackout in Venezuela in 2019. The effort to control the situation took the government more than a week, and the cut-off from the power grid was disastrous – the deficiency of power meant the death of newborns in infirmary incubators and patients under respirators, many suffered in chaos and riots.
April 2025 – a powerful failure paralyzes Spain, France and Portugal. The Spanish government introduces a civilian protection emergency in part of the country with the 3rd highest alert level. erstwhile I compose this text, intensive work is underway to reconstruct power supply.
However, distant Venezuela or even Spain do not appeal to the imagination like events that have happened just abroad. In 2022, erstwhile the first rockets fell on Kiev and a wave of refugees moved towards Poland, many Poles began asking themselves: what would I do if rockets fell on my city? How shortly would I be able to pack my household and get on the road? Would I last 2 weeks in a shelter? Would I run or stay?
Anna besides asked herself specified questions – present known on the web as the author of the Urban endurance account of parent of Poland, observed by more than 25,000 people. “Before that, endurance was associated with strong men, who in the mediate of the forest practice the fire in respective ways,” he says. It is hard to find something far from her comfortable urban life as a parent and wife. War in Ukraine was a breakthrough for her. – Then I realized that this comfort could be lost very quickly. And that I'm completely unprepared for that. I didn't even have a candle in the house! After the power cut, we would sit in the dark," he recalls.
Anna began searching for information, reading guides, putting together basic equipment. She rapidly noticed that many people are in a akin situation – they have neither supplies nor cognition nor a plan in case of crisis. I know those real Survivals are laughing at my channel. But I don't do my materials for those who can last a period in the jungle. I make them for people like me 3 years ago who don't even have these candles, matches and don't know where to start," Anna explains. He stresses that it is not about costly preparations. I'm not asking anyone to buy costly equipment. In crisis, the simplest things can be the most important. For example, a regular radio for batteries – he says. How many times have I heard, "Why do I request a radio? I have an app on my phone.” So what if it's an online radio that becomes useless without the Internet?
This besides applies to another analog solutions: a paper map, a compass, a simple notebook with a pen. In a situation of emergency, it is besides crucial to have an identity card in a conventional form, in a wallet, not just on the phone. And cash, due to the fact that during the blackout, payment cards can prove useless. – For most people, endurance begins not with the art of filtering water in the river or gaining food in the wild, but with the ability to function without telephone, net and electricity, which during blackout whether war activities can be, even temporarily, unavailable," explains Anna. Its content is mainly directed at women, due to the fact that it is in the event of armed conflict, erstwhile men are mobilized, that they will gotta take full work for the endurance of the household in a crisis situation.
We left the wild
– What we learn present as part of endurance was erstwhile no art of endurance but of everyday life. Even in the 19th century, all landlord in the village knew how to light a fire utilizing a hub and a flint, to make simple tools from scratch, to know about plants, home animals, to process meat, to do construction work on his own. The household was self-sufficient – says Bogdan Jaskiewicz, a endurance teacher who has been active in this subject for over 30 years. During this time he had the chance to observe how technological advancement changed reality. – My generation no longer made tools, everything could be bought in shops. But boys' school was taught utilizing a hammer, a saw, specified basic method work. Now these skills are in decline – he adds. And although he appreciates the possibilities offered by modern equipment, he cannot imagine the art of endurance without going back to the roots, that is, to the simplest tools. Like a knife. “Every survivalist has scars on his hands after learning how to usage a knife, but this is an absolute basis – he laughs.
Although before you start acquiring skills, you request to prepare mentally, first of all to be prepared for the fact that peace and comfort do not gotta last forever and the crisis can simply happen. The key is to find where the threat may come from and how it will affect our lives. Will the problem be power shortages, broken food supply chains, or possibly riots or armed conflict? We gotta figure out what we're gonna request first. Then think about how we want to respond to this – he explains. Although any rules are universal, we will face another challenges during the floods, erstwhile there is simply a failure of the power grid across the country and with others after the outbreak of the armed conflict.
Decision: Stay or run?
One of the fundamental decisions that we gotta take already at the planning phase is whether we are staying at home in the event of an emergency, whether we are deciding to evacuate. This is 1 of the fundamental questions. We stay and deal with the place or run distant to find help? – Jaskiewicz admits. If we run – where? Do we have a household in the country, distant from large centres, and we'll wait there? Do we want to get out of the country? If we want to escape, we will request an evacuation backpack and a precise plan: which means of transport to choose, which way to go, where to stay, if further driving is impossible. To the backpack it advises to take not only clothes for different weather conditions, water, food and medicines, but besides a supply of cash and everything that in a crisis situation can be attractive as an object of exchange. – It is known that the gold chain can replace cash, but in a crisis situation the value of even a pack of cigarettes is expanding – he explains.
If we're planning to stay put, we gotta prepare to be on our own at first. It's usually talked about surviving for 72 hours, but it's just an indicative time. In fresh Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, it took more time to deliver food and water. And I am not convinced that Poland is more efficient than the US... – says Jaskiewicz.
Key competences
There can be many crisis scenarios. Can you prepare for anyone? "I'm certain the most crucial thing is to change the way you think and to focus on the fact that possibly specified a crisis will should be faced. This is completely different from exploring the art of surviving in the forest – explains Jaskiewicz. However, it indicates the key competences that will be useful in various types of crisis situations. It's primarily the ability to give first aid. You gotta practice it to make certain procedures become a habit. This besides means completing a thoughtful first aid kit, adapted to circumstantial needs.
– Even the largest expert in the field of survival, who knows the medicinal properties of plants, will not produce insulin or heart medication," Jaskiewicz emphasizes. Another point is learning to get drinking water – if you can and should have more water in the bottles, there will not be much area in the escape backpack. Therefore, good quality filters are essential – and of course practice in practice of utilizing them. Bogdan Jaskiewicz suggests that we besides dust the art of utilizing a paper map and compass, forgotten by many people, and get to know the nearest area best. The list of key competences besides includes the ability to usage basic tools and make tiny repairs. The more you know, the more situations you can handle. That's why it's worth learning fresh things, not just that you can check everything on your phone. due to the fact that this telephone may not be at any point – he concludes.
The art of survival, thus understood, does not require immense financial expenditure on specialized equipment. The most crucial thing is in the head. It's up to mentality and attitude to decide if you quit in the event of a war and do nothing or effort to survive. But the more you know, the better prepared you are, the greater the chance that in a crisis situation you will take work for yourself and your household and start acting," he adds. It encourages us not to wait, but to take at least 1 of the many endurance textbooks as shortly as possible and start preparing.
Survival of the 21st century is not only skills that supply physical survival, but above all those that let you to find yourself in a planet without Internet, electricity and digital facilities. It starts with learning not to light fire utilizing a flint, but from reaching for a paper map and a compass and making certain there is always a supply of candles and matches at home. However, while preparing for the crisis, it is worth remembering that not only equipment and cognition are crucial – although without them we cannot manage. The key is intellectual immunity and the ability to act in situations that seem distant today, and next day may become our regular life.
