"Search The Most Deadly Places First": 35 Facts That Could Help Save Someone's Life One Day

Staying calm under stress has a lot of different factors associated with it. But broadly speaking, there are a few main aspects. The first one is your ability to be aware of and regulate your emotions when things get tough. Secondly, you have to know what to do in these emergency situations—it’s a question of information. And third of all, you have to have at least some sort of practical experience dealing with the situations in question.

If you only have a theoretical knowledge of what to do when there’s an emergency, you might be too shocked to put any of those ideas into practice. Similarly, even if you’re decent at not giving in to stress, you might still feel lost because you don’t know what to do in that particular situation. 

It’s probably a good idea that you and your loved ones know what to do in case of more common emergencies. For example, if there’s a fire at home. Running through some roleplaying exercises can cement this in everyone’s minds.

It’s why you have fire drills at schools and some companies. You’re putting all of that knowledge into practice so that if things do go wrong, you don’t panic. You stay calm. You don’t stick around for your valuables. You head out the door after making sure that your loved ones are with you.

Meanwhile, if you live in a part of the world where hurricanes, earthquakes, or other natural disasters are commonplace, it only makes sense that you have an emergency plan… as well as a backup plan if the first one fails. The more you practice something, the more confident you become. The more confident you are, the less you’ll panic when you have to put your theoretical knowledge into action. You’re simply running through what the same process you’ve done time and again.

The fact of the matter is that we physically cannot be prepared for every possible eventuality. No matter how capable we are, we’ll still be surprised by what life throws at us. But we cannot chronically worry about that, being scared to even step outside our own homes. 

We learn what we can. We practice what we can. And then, we focus on the other things in our lives that we can control. Like taking good care of our physical and mental health so that we’re fit and focused and better at surviving. Not to mention strengthening our relationships with people so that if things do turn out bad, we have a strong social network to lean on.

The discussion that redditor u/Accidentallyupvotes1 started is a vital one. Not only does it remind people that they should probably brush up on their emergency-handling knowledge, but it also works as a starting point for folks who have never considered the possibility of being in these situations before.

We were curious about what had inspired the OP to create the r/AskReddit thread in the first place. According to them, it was as much about curiosity as calming down their sense of worry about the world. "I have a minor case of anxiety," they opened up to us, adding that they "just wanted to learn some facts." As it turns out, they have a lot in common with other redditors.

Learning to stay calm in emergency situations really is easier said than done. We were curious to get the thread author's take on this. They shared their perspective on how anyone can handle these sorts of unexpected situations better.

In u/Accidentallyupvotes1's opinion, the key is learning to control your breathing. They suggested that people slow down their breathing and focus on taking deeper breaths. This should help them calm down and stay in control when things get stressful.

The OP urged everyone to take a "deep breath" and then strongly exhale, as though they were trying to "blow out a candle." Repeat this as necessary.

Something that bothers a lot of people is how to balance living their lives with the fact that unexpected and unlucky events can happen to anyone.

Redditor u/Accidentallyupvotes1 admitted to Bored Panda that they're no different: they worry about the very same thing. 

Though there's no silver bullet answer to this problem, the OP urged everyone to adopt the good old YOLO (you only live once) attitude. That means embracing the nuanced reality of life, trying to live to the fullest, and living purposefully every day, no matter what.

What emergencies do you personally feel you're capable of tackling, dear Pandas? Have you ever had to save another person's life? If you're feeling up to it, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this article. Meanwhile, for some more facts that might help you save someone else, you can peruse Bored Panda's earlier post.