If you think your everyday carry survival items are only there to assist you open up beer bottles and lighting your way when your phone’s battery is dead, perish the thought. There are plenty of emergencies that may happen, and your EDC items can literally make the difference between life and death.
In this article we’re going to go a step beyond what most articles do, and try to anticipate some of the situations that these items can assist you with.
A simple Band-Aid can stop bleeding and avoid pain
I keep one in each and every one of my wallets (among other places). Getting a cut is probably the most common critical event in the world, so why not prep for it? …Especially since band-aids are incredibly cheap.
Your lighter can help you escape zip ties
Let’s assume someone kidnaps you and, obviously, ties you up to prevent you from espacing. If you could grab the lighter from one of your back pockets, you could use it to melt the plastic and set yourself free. Even if you keep it in your front pocket and this is unlikely to work, you can still use your lighter to free other people.
Your tactical pen can fend off an attacker
Don’t expect to crush your opponent; your EDC pen should give you those few extra seconds to make a run for it. The key to getting one of these pens is to avoid the ones that are tacticool. You don’t want people asking you about it whenever you take it out of your pocket to write something.
Since this is something you’ll be wearing with you every day on your person, you want to avoid stupid questions.
Your phone could help you find your way back even when the phone lines are down
If you have a maps app installed and downloaded some of the maps for offline use, know that the satellites may still be working even when phones do not. This means you’ll still be able to see yourself as a dot on the map and even the direction you’re going.
Cash can pay off rioters
I’m not saying this will work 100%, but if you’re in a riot or other kind of social unrest and other people take notice of you, one way of escaping is paying them off. Obviously, they can search your pockets and take your money without letting you go, but hopefully, the pleasant surprise of you putting cold hard cash into their hands will be enough to melt their hearts for a few seconds.
Pen and paper can help you store important data
Two words. Two words such as “help me” written on a piece of paper to remember something or alert someone. This could save your life. Enough said.
Now, we can’t wrap this up without talking about the most important EDC item:
Your Brain
Train your brain just like the navy seals or the military, and it can save you more times than you can possibly imagine. For example:
- train your awareness and it’ll warn you of impending danger, giving you those precious extra seconds to flee
- train it against tunnel vision and tunnel hearing and it’ll keep focused when faced with danger, allowing you to make the best decisions to save yourself
- train it to memorize your town’s streets and it’ll tell you where to go to get home during critical events
- train it to make that jump or run faster than you currently are, because that small edge could make the difference between life and death (physical training has a very important mental component)
Final Word
One thing I must ask you to do is not see this list as exhaustive. An EDC is somewhat fluid, you change it as time goes by. Feel free to add as many other items you think are needed.
And, of course, don’t forget to practice using them. It’ll be useless to try to figure them out when there’s fire, panic and screaming around you. I’ll be futile to try to download those maps right when you need them. Do it now because it’s the only way to maximize your chances of survival.
