Looking back on the first emergency situations I ever dealt with, I was always amazed at how the brain would start to racing no matter what you did.
In modern society we can almost always find help. Landmarks are everywhere and getting permanently lost or turned around is rare.
But in an emergency, what if you can’t find a familiar point of reference or there’s no help to be found. Research shows whenever an individual is placed in a survival situation our basic fears begin to kick in (i.e. fear of death, dark, unknown, injury, animals, etc) and this results in PANIC.
Panic is controlled by using the STOP acronym. Let’s take a look:
The S T O P acronym:
S – Sit
T – Think
O – Observe
P – Plan
The first step is to sit down so that you don’t run around like a chicken with his head cut off.
Step two is to think, not panic, use your head and think. Next, observe and look at all angles. Often just by observing you can see many things other people will miss. When people panic they develop tunnel vision, your goal is to avoid this.
Lastly, plan how you’re going to deal with this emergency and then systematically do it.
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