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IN 1982 STEVEN CALLAHAN was crossing the
Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank.
He was out of the shipping lanes and floating in a life raft,
alone. His supplies were few. His chances were small. Yet when
three fishermen found him seventy-six days later (the
longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone),
he was alive — much skinnier than he was when he started,
but alive.
His account of how he survived is fascinating.
His ingenuity — how he managed to catch fish, how he fixed
his solar still (evaporates sea water to make fresh) — is
very interesting.
But the thing that caught my eye was how
he managed to keep himself going when all hope seemed lost, when
there seemed no point in continuing the struggle, when he was
suffering greatly, when his life raft was punctured and after
more than a week struggling with his weak body to fix it, it
was still leaking air and wearing him out to keep pumping it
up. He was starved. He was desperately dehydrated. He was thoroughly
exhausted. Giving up would have seemed the only sane option.
When people survive these kinds
of circumstances, they do something with their minds that gives
them the courage to keep going. Many people in similarly desperate
circumstances give in or go mad. Something the survivors do with
their thoughts helps them find the guts to carry on in spite
of overwhelming odds.
“I tell myself I can handle it,”
wrote Callahan in his narrative. “Compared to what others
have been through, I’m fortunate. I tell myself these things
over and over, building up fortitude....”
I wrote that down after I read it. It struck
me as something important. And I’ve told myself the same
thing when my own goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed
too overwhelming. And every time I’ve said it, I have always
come back to my senses.
The truth is, our circumstances are only
bad compared to something better. But others have
been through much worse. I’ve read enough history to know
you and I are lucky to be where we are, when we are, no matter
how bad it seems to us compared to our fantasies. It’s a
sane thought and worth thinking.
So here, coming to us from the extreme
edge of survival, are words that can give us strength. Whatever
you’re going through, tell yourself you can handle it. Compared
to what others have been through, you’re fortunate. Tell
this to yourself over and over, and it will help you get through
the rough spots with a little more fortitude.
Tell yourself you can handle
it.
Read Callahan's book about his
ordeal:
Adrift:
Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea
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