Typical Survivor Personality Traits Flexibility. The No. 1 trait to which many survivors attribute their success is the ability to adapt to the situation. Commitment to survive. When conditions are extremely difficult, it takes a strong will and commitment to survive. Jewish Holocaust and Bataan Death March survivors tell tales of watching their friends lose the will to survive. Under these harsh conditions, after the drive to survive was lost, they usually lasted a short while, ranging from a few hours to a few days. Staying cool. Survivors have the ability to stay calm or regain calmness so they can think clearly and intuitively “feel” their way to a correct choice, without being hampered by emotions that have run amok. Playful curiosity. Survivors usually like to know how things work. They show a playful curiosity that helps them adapt to changing circumstances. Sense of humor. The ability to laugh helps people manage under the worst conditions. My father in-law, Joseph Jussen, a Dutch resistance fighter and World War II hero, was captured and tortured by the Nazis for months before he was freed in a daring escape. Later, as a Dutch marine in the Indonesian revolution, he survived while most of his company was killed. Throughout his life, he maintained a great sense of humor and loved nothing more than to make people laugh. His favorite saying was, “Make you happy!”
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:34:45 +0000