Being a survivalist is about the furthest thing from reality for someone like me. I’ve lived a pretty pampered life. The closest I ever came to a life or death scenario was when I was retrieving a mattress that fell off the back of a truck on the side of a highway. As I lifted the mattress off the ground, a tractor trailer jack knifed to avoid hitting a box spring and missed me by about ten yards. If the truck had flipped over, I’d surely be dead and this memory along with it.
Although surviving in the woods isn’t something I’d be particularly good at doing, I do find the concept interesting. The fact that someone can build a fire anytime, anywhere or find the correct non poisonous berries or mushrooms to eat in order to avoid starvation is fascinating.
Surviving in the wild correlates nicely with the trials and tribulations each of us face as we navigate the ups and downs or our daily lives. Raising kids, getting hired, fired or enjoying retirement, all of these have their own pitfalls to avoid and moments to celebrate.
I found myself replaying many of these life moments while watching the new Brad Pitt movie Heart of the Beast. I’ll do my best to avoid giving away any major plot twists, but I did want to dive into the movie a bit to discuss how, upon reflection, it impacted me.
The movie centers around a retired Army Special Forces soldier (Pitt) and his combat German Shepherd named Odin. Both of them suffer from nightmares due to PTSD, a result of their time in combat overseas. We learn very early on that the two are inseparable, leaning on each other to help deal with the physical and emotional scars they both carry.
Shot in Alaska, the film itself is beautiful. As the two wander the mountainous terrain, we get to experience the unrivaled beauty and callous reality of untamed nature on both man and beast. As they continue along their journey, you become invested in what happens to them, hoping for the best but knowing there will most likely be profound sadness rather than a utopian ending.
When the movie entered the halfway point, I found myself looking inward as the story progressed, leading me to consider aspects of my own life. We can’t all be survivalists with an ability to live off the side of a mountain for days or weeks; however, that doesn’t mean we’re not survivors of one thing or another.
The reality is, the most beautiful house on your street may be hiding the darkest secrets. There is no one in this world who will leave it without having to face hardship at one time or another. Personally, I grew up in a beautiful house but had an alcoholic father. I would’ve rather lived in a shack with a dad who was healthy, loving and outwardly caring but that’s not how the cards were dealt. The outside of my house never revealed the inner turmoil my family was dealing with on a daily basis.
Maybe survival isn’t always about building a fire in the wilderness or finding food on a mountainside. Sometimes, it’s about overcoming a difficult childhood, accepting what we cannot change and finding the strength to keep moving forward. We all carry scars others may never see, and overcoming them is an accomplishment in its own right. I may never be much of a survivalist, but I’ve learned that we don’t have to live on the side of a mountain to discover what we’re made of.
Sometimes, simply making it through the life we’ve been given is an adventure all its own.
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