Survival Expert: The 7 Sins of Summer Safety and How To Sidestep Them

Summer is finally here. Depending on where you live, or where your travels take you, you may have just survived a long cold winter without a break, nearly overcome by a claustrophobic cabin fever. With the temperatures warming you are out the door; full time fun in the sun. YES!

Perhaps, given the great anticipation and the excitement of the moment, we forget that Summer can be as dangerous as it is delightful. Excessive heat, violent storms, insects, impromptu emergencies and power-outages are not to be taken lightly. That said, your exposure to these calamities can, to a great degree, remain well within your command.

It is true that some accidents and disasters, plane crash, metro crash, auto accidents can fall out of our ability to control them. That said, the 7 Sins are largely preventable. That’s because “The 7 Sins of Summer” are really ’sins’ of omission, if you will. These 7 Sins, sometimes-deadly-sins, come about mostly out of apathy and neglect. We fail to recognize the risks and take appropriate actions in advance. With a foreshadowing eye, not a foreboding one, you can craft a plan to control the situation so that the situation doesn’t ultimately control you.

Here are the 7 Sins of Summer and How You can begin to Sidestep them.

1. Ignoring the ultimate power of Lightning Strikes. Lightning strikes from all angles and directions. Learn why “if you can hear it, it can hurt you.”

2. Neglecting to protect yourself from mosquitoes, ticks and other insects that can spread deadly diseases. West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease are just the beginning of insect-delivered-illnesses (IDI’s) you need to guard against.

3. Failure to shield yourself from the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Take it from me; Skin Cancer is a pain but you can also work to prevent it.

4. Caught without emergency  backup power and lighting at home, work or on the road. Though we take it for granted, Electrical Power is a vital component in any emergency situation.

5. Neglecting to prepare a emergency first aid plan without a well stocked first aid kit on hand. When you can’t call on an ambulance or a paramedic, can you call on yourself?

6. Trapped without an alternative communication plan to keep in touch or call for help. Communication is the number one key to any survival situation.

7. Allowing your body to go Hyperthermic, leading to heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. 98.6 degrees isn’t a suggestion. It’s mandatory.

The key to survival, all survival is the cultivation of the Survivor’s Eye because how we look at emergency situations, often times, determines if we live.

Starting Monday, June 29th for 7 consecutive days Buried Logic will go into great detail on each of the specific 7 Sins of Summer and the best way to sidestep each of them.

Be sure to add your feedback. I am looking for your suggestions as well. If you have a category I missed or some additional survival tips and techniques you would like to share, they could make their way into next weeks posts. Be a part of our continuing education in emergency preparedness and Summer Survival.