I read about that human beings are able to survive without oxygen for three minutes, without water for three days and without food for thirty days. There might be exceptions to that. However I assume that the listed factors are applicable for 95% of the human population.
As I do not consider myself as being exceptional I have listed these factors in order to be aware of my natural restrictions. I can do whatever I want. I will not be able to overcome these kind of restrictions. Working against these restrictions will end in a senseless fight. That´s why they need to be treated as a friend.
I´m highlighting this due to the following: In addition to the mentioned three factors there are further „invisible“ factors existing. Working against these invisible factors will not lead to anything which can be deemed as a success or anything being proud of.
What am I referring to?
I remember myself once spending some nights at a hotel in a small town in Laos. I was traveling Laos while being faced with temperatures around 32 degrees. One day I started to feel incredible headache. Probably a result of intense sports activities during the afternoon. I did not fill up my water resources on that day in order to prepare for the night. This one minor bottle of water is enough for the rest of the day including the night. The headache is not that bad.
That´s what I was saying to myself. During that time of the day the headache was already very intense. Night fell. Impossible to sleep due to my throbbing head. I was recognizing that the headache had finally turned into fever. I finished my last drops of water. Midnight arose. I left my room. Went downstairs as I wanted to go to a store outside of the hotel in order to buy water bottles. I was afraid that my situation was getting serious. When I passed by the reception I did not recognize any person there. Additionally no water bottles around. It was totally quiet. I walked to the main entrance in order to leave the hotel. It was locked.
Being locked
In no way I did calculate that kind of situation. In no way I was imagining myself that I could truly be locked inside a hotel complex without having the opportunity to leave. At that moment I was facing a real problem. The point was that I needed to grab more water in order to fight my fever. But I quickly realized that there was no chance to do so. Indeed I was locked. I was locked inside a hotel complex without any chance to leave it. Wow. Good job. Never faced that kind of situation before.
I went back to the area of the reception. Started searching for water bottles again. None around. I was truly running out of water. I was about to be faced with a problem which I was never confronted with before. All I knew was that for the duration of the next six hours I will not be able to catch some water. Until the main entrance will be unlocked. For the duration of the next six hours I would not be able to drink. To satisfy one of my major basic needs. What drove my mind to let me run into that kind of stupidity not to refill my water bottles while I was already facing brutal headache?
Enduring the pain
I decided to simply let it go. It was a decision in order to punish myself for my stupidity. Yes. I could have screamed around in order to wake up the hotel staff. I could have called the police or an ambulance in order to notify them about my situation. From the inside I knew that I was not completely lost.
By knowing that I recognized that I can give it a try. I can simply wait until 6 am in the morning when I will be able to leave the hotel complex. Then I can simply go to the next store and buy some water bottles. Human beings can survive up to three days without water. You already had some water in the evening. Based on this you are able to spend at least two more nights in your room without any danger of running into serious problems which may affect survival.
Restless night
I went back to my room. Took a shower. Letting water run over my head in attempt to reduce fever. I did not take any pain killer. Would have felt like a betrayal. I do not need any pain killer. I need water. But I have decided not to fight for grabbing it at least for the next couple of hours. I will endure the pain. 1 pm. Sleeping was impossible. 2 pm. I was facing strong fever. Hours were passing by accompanied by a couple of minutes of restless sleeping.
During the morning hours suddenly I recognized noises at the reception. I made my way downstairs. I was experiencing strong difficulties to walk reasonably. Reaching the main entrance. Finally it was open. I went to a minor store to buy water bottles. Then I made my way back to the hotel. Back to my room to finally catch some real sleep in order to reduce my fever.
Don´t run out of water
Don´t run out of water. Since being faced with the situation which has been described above it´s a phrase which accompanies me since that on. It´s a metaphor for everything which I should not allow to myself. Don´t run out of water. Don´t become too isolated. Don´t let yourself being faced with a bank account with zero money on it. Don´t lose all of the stability and all of the security in order to try something new. Try to keep in mind the essentials which are serving you well. Don´t challenge these ones.
Don´t run out of water. It´s a metaphor to describe the minimum standard which I require in order to set up my life properly. That´s primarily related to my daily life meaning that it needs to be distinguished from situations where I want to conduct an experiment e. g. how many days can I live without this and that by knowing that I can simply resume after the experiment has ended. It´s about me being me being faced with my normal behavior. It´s part of that base on which my future goals will be built on.
Essentials
In the first sentence within this article I have stated three factors: Oxygen, water and food. They are deemed as those kind of essentials which are required in order to set up my life properly. Don´t run out of water is to remind me that there are further factors (as mentioned above „invisible“ factors) from which I know that by ignoring them in the near or far future I will be faced with severe problems. On the short term maybe I will not mind. In contrast I will experience the negative circumstances on the long run. Do I really want to be confronted with these kind of problems? It will require tough effort in order to get rid of these problems once they become reality. Why not turning that energy into the effort which needs to be done in order to prevent running out of water ever again?
The point is that running out of water is painful and destructive. It´s the opposite of moving forward. If I deem that running out of water is not that bad it´s similar to rejecting myself accompanied by a strong reduce in terms of my self confidence. My self acceptance. My self respect. If I run out of water I will not be able to support people in that way which it will be feasible if I did not run out of water. There´s nothing good in running out of water. Running out of water will lead to a negative pressure which will physically attract an overwhelming amount of water which waves will be incredibly intense as negative pressure requires compensation by over pressure.
Holy words
I can focus on my goals. I can dream big dreams and create big thoughts. I can put tough work into single tasks which are deemed as essential tasks in order to achieve the goals I have set for myself. But don´t run out of water.
Any thoughts on this can be sent privately to mail@realthoughts.me or publicly via the comment function below
Martin