I get into trouble when I ignore that little sick feeling in my stomach that tells me I'm in trouble.

Like a recent backpack trip when I didn't listen to my 43 year old body telling my brain we weren't 18 anymore and needed to give up on trying to reach the designated campsite and pitch camp where I was.

Like I taught my daughter when she was little: "if it feels icky, it IS icky".

I think most of us know when we're in trouble/in over our heads, we just tend to argue/rationalize ourselves out of it.

In addition to being kind to ourselves and allowing ourselves to "be flawed" (getting lost, running out of gas, getting snowbound, or run of the road), I think it would benefit us to be flexible in how we view our capabilities in light of the circumstances.

A little humility can save your life.

How I'm going to be able to handle a situation is going to vary depending on 1) how I am physically, 2) how I am mentally, 3) general conditions around me.

Being sick or having just donated a double-red (2 units of blood) will change an inconvenience for me into a crisis/survival situation because of my body's ability to cope.

I have to say that on a personal note, I am in survival mode all the time. I can compare it to our national threat awareness system. I have always felt it be important to be prepared (as do the rest of you in the forum). Just by being prepared, we are already in the "mode". As I move about my day, if something that comes up that is not in the norm - then my level escalates accordingly. If it a minor problem then it is dealt with as such. If it is a major/serious problem then my leven can jump dramatically. For those that are not prepared, then they have to go from not prepared to survival mode. It is a mind set that people are either in on they are not. Just by asking the question - you are in the mode. If you know you are going to a place (mentally, physically or environmentally) I would gather that most of us would plan accordingly (winter conditions = warm cloths, possibility of getting stuck, mechanical problems etc...). In summary, I would say that I am constantly in a state of survival mode, it just depends at what level it progresses to. That way I don't have to make that "jump"