How Important Is It To Have A Backup Plan(s) In Survival?

For every endeaver in survival; it is vital to have one or more backup plans. Simply put, sometimes plan A and plan B doesn't always work. Although we often think of redundance as a negative quality..in survival it is a positive quality. Skill and knowledge, open-mindedness, preparation, and redundance are key factors in survival. What are your backup ideas?

 

I do not have plans as such. they are more like options!

My recent bug out plan had vehicular options, cycle options and foot options!
with those options were layup points, interchange points, possible resupply points, danger points etc!
I could change between these options many times and at most anytime!
As my third retreat is being sold now I am at the point of reassessing everything!

 

It's important to consider all your options, and spend time visualizing how this or that option would go, ideally. The thing is, we don't even know what is going to happen. We can just try to imagine a bunch of what if scenarios. And prepare for the most likely.

 

Yeah, it's like minecraft. When you get done building one, you get bored and want to interconnect them, start to play out worst case scenarios...bam. Shelter 2. And then hey, you know, that was a good spot...boom, 3. Want food in all of them, start thinking of badass plans....boom, 4! I think it's a natural progression.

 

When you are just relying on your instincts to survive, I don't think many people would be able to be aware enough during the situation to have a back up plan. There are many factors involving planning, and a calm mind is definitely one of them. When you are in danger, or when you are simply fighting to survive, your default setting would be act now, and think later. For a lot of people, that's basically it, keep running, keep moving, and hopefully you will find someone else who is also in your situation. For people who were trained to act in disaster though, that's a different story. Firefighters, paramedics, and even the police have been trained on what to do in certain scenarios, and that's why they would always THINK before acting, because their training has overridden their baser instincts to survive on their own.

 

In addition to the backup plans you will also need the equanimity to come up with a new plan if none of your plans can be used in whatever specific situation you find yourself in. This could make a huge difference. Freeze and you are dead.

 

As for me, my Christian faith is a strong emotional buffer that guards me from the fear of the unknown that necessitates a plan B and C. The other thing is that even with other exit plans, what can go wrong will go wrong. The best approach is to take each situation as it comes and aspire to learn and analyse your sorroundings. This is a skill that becomes ingrained into someone's mind. You will be able to maneouvre your way round through uncanny intuition.

 

I think having more plans is vital in any situation you are in. If plan A does not work then you should have a plan B ready to be implemented. And while doing plan B you need to have another plan, plan C and so forth. If you do not have multiple backup plans you will be lost very fast and feel quite trapped. Having a backup plan gives you a feeling of security and assurance that you know everything will be okay in the end because one of the plans has to work out. I guess it helps you to stay hopeful and motivated to keep on going.

Having secret hiding places and stashes during an apocalypse sounds like a very smart idea and I definitely will include that in my plans.