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Date: 12/7/2022
LONGMEADOW – Could you survive a terrifying ordeal in which your life was at stake? Author and Longmeadow native Michael Tougias has interviewed more than 70 people over 30 years who have been in that very situation. In his newest book, “Extreme Survival,” Tougias identified the patterns and mindsets that allowed them to survive.
“I think this book is a culmination of my life’s work,” Tougias said. He had been thinking about writing “Extreme Survival” for “easily 20 years,” he said. “I want [the book] to be an edge of your seat read, but also that deep dive into what led to their survival.”
Drawing from historical incidents as well as from interviews he had personally conducted, he said, “I began to see patterns.”
Tougias identified 12 mindsets. One such mindset is what Tougias called, “the power of little steps.” He said the people who were best able to survive limited their thinking to what could be accomplished in the next hour, and in doing so, did not become overwhelmed with their situations.
Another common sentiment Tougias heard from survivors was that they focused on the person or people for whom they were surviving – usually loved ones. Lochlin Reidy, the survivor of a 2005 storm at sea, said his then-13-year-old daughter was his purpose for staying alive.
Similarly, Tougias said that the doctor aboard the USS Indianapolis had stated that after the ship was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in 1945, he had to keep an eye on the unmarried crew members because they were more likely to lose hope than those who had spouses and children at home.
Trusting one’s intuition is also a mindset that Tougias recognized in multiple incidents. “I believe it’s subconscious clues,” that lead people in the right direction, he said of intuition.
On the other hand, there are some common mistakes people make that lead them into dangerous situations. One is being “blinded by the goal,” Tougias said. He explained, “A goal is good, but they stick to the plan when it should have been fluid.” He cited President John F. Kennedy, who learned lessons from the Bay of Pigs in 1961 and changed his strategy when needed throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis the next year, narrowly avoiding a nuclear war.
In something of a sunk cost fallacy, Tougias said people will decide they have gone too far up a mountain to turn back, or that they have too much riding on something to change their minds. The result is disaster.
When Tougias was asked about his favorite survival story, he pointed to Brad Cavanagh, a Massachusetts native who was shipwrecked after sailing a yacht down the East Coast with four other people. After five days at sea in an inflatable dinghy, he was one of only two people to survive.
Tougias quoted Cavanaugh as saying, “I looked up into one wave and saw a shark bigger than our raft.” What the author said has stuck with him about Cavanaugh’s story is, “He kept thinking of ways to improve their situation.” Some of those ideas worked, others did not, but he kept trying, Tougias said. While Cavanaugh knew the chances of survival were slim, Tougias related that he had told himself, “I’m going to fight till the end.”
Asked whether the ability to survive is an inherent part of some people or something that can be learned, Tougias said, “I think it’s both.” He related yet another survival story in which someone was trapped in their overturned vehicle for days. According to Tougias, the person broke off a part of their vehicle’s interior and tied cloth to the end so it could reach out to a puddle nearby and soak up water. The individual was able to ring the water into their mouth and stay alive.
“You can learn some of these mindsets,” Tougias considered, “but the resourcefulness is something I don’t think I could do.”
Despite what would seem like life-altering experiences, Tougias said most of the individuals he has interviewed have only changed minor aspects of their day-to-day routines. One person stopped wearing a watch, “so he wouldn’t be a slave to time,” Tougias said. Another took a longer route to work to appreciate the ocean.
That is not to say the survivors are untraumatized. The author said one person who cried during their interview told Tougias it was “good therapy” to talk about their experience.
Tougias’s next book is “Abandon Ship,” due out in January 2023. After a ship was sunk by a U-boat during World War II (WWII), the survivors were rescued by that same submarine, only to be bombed by an American plane.
“I love WWII stories, but most have been told. This one has survival and a coverup,” Tougias said.
For more about Tougias’ books, including the “True Rescue” series of books about survival for young readers, visit https://www.michaeltougias.com.