The Relative (E=mc2) Wilderness School

re to be prepared for acute emergencies and/or catastrophic events (i.e. a terrorist nuclear, chemical, or biological attack on the home land; a natural disaster). Some have gone to such extents as to include in their preparedness the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012; a "Zombie" pandemic; the Sh*t-Hitting-the-Fan (SHTF); The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI). These latter may appear to some as "radical Doomsday" predictions. However, the overall trend toward a certain degree of increased preparedness is undoubtedly present in our post 9/11 world. Perhaps, it stems from our human nature and it's need for an identifiable enemy as opposed to an unseen, unknown, and capricious enemy. Regardless, the trend is here and many people have utilized it to focus on increased knowledge, gear, and Self-reliance. Wilderness survival, bushcrafting, and emergency preparedness are about getting back to the hierarchy of human basics that promote preservation of self and community. The Relative (E=mc²) Wilderness School (TR²WS) is about getting back to the mental health hierarchy basics. This will be accomplished through an introduction to basic wilderness & preparedness knowledge, skills, and tactics that promote self-reliance, increase one's mental health capacity to cope with psychological stress or mental illness, and thus, generalize these instructions, experiences, skills, tactics, and knowledge to one's daily life. The overall mission is to create more adaptive, efficacious, and individualized coping mechanisms to decrease the deleterious signs and symptoms of mental illness and discomfort. The following are all excerpts from John "Lofty" Wiesman's SAS Survival Handbook, How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea. Many of us that enjoy studying and applying wilderness survival skills consider this text a paramount resource. These excepts I feel encompass the importance of wilderness survival skills and can "common-sensically" be applied to emotional (mental health) surviving and thriving.

1. The will to live (WTL) means never giving in, regardless of the situation. It's very reassuring that there is nothing on this earth that we cannot deal with, and there is no place on earth where we cannot survive.
2. What keeps us going is the basic instinct (WTL). This is the firm foundation that we build all of our training on and try to nourish and increase. It's easy to see how physically fit we are but very difficult to know how mentally fit we are.
3. As long as we follow the basic principles, prepare ourselves, and apply this WTL, we will come through.
4. It's crucial that we are prepared for any eventuality and survival training is the best insurance policy you can take out. Just by following the basic techniques, and knowing what to do in an emergency will make the world a safer place.
5.Some people turn to religion in times of stress, others think of loved ones. Fear of failure or letting down comrades, all help to strengthen our WTL.
6. It seems self-evident that these "Lofty" (pun intended) statements can be applied to nourish and increase our emotional and mental health survival as well. Thus, the premise behind TR²WS is to take these basic wilderness and emergency survival skills to promote and develop sound, effective, competent, and individualized cognitive and experiential coping mechanisms.