Built To Endure

In 2017, the provocative TV experiment "The Island with Bear Grylls" segregated men and women on distinct islands to highlight their survival capabilities.

This ignited fierce debates over gender skills in harsh conditions.

The results were exactly what you might have expected, but let me share my story first.

Ever since my last visit to El Nido, I have wanted to do this. I had observed the island many times before, walked on the beach alongside the shoreline and admired the towering limestone rock formations erect from the sea.

The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. That magnificent, awe-inspiring power of nature is what it brings to mind.

So I decided to get a kayak and paddle the 2 miles to the island by myself across the sea. It was not a big deal, I thought, since the waters are calm and the weather is good.

The first part went smoothly, but around the halfway point, I noticed a strong current coming from the southeast and the wind picking up. At that point, turning around wasn’t really an option any more.

So I kept paddling.

The waves were getting bigger and I got increasingly more concerned about my drone on the frontseat falling off the kayak, but eventually I got closer to the island and its adjacent hidden beach.

As I approached, I could see a man standing on the shore, making signs and waving with his arms. He was clearly trying to communicate that I should stay away and not get closer.

I could not care less; my arms were already sore since I wasn´t a trained kayaker and the only thing I wanted was to rest and get to the safe beach.

As I stepped on the beach, completely exhausted from the trip, the man started talking to me in Tagalog, which, despite its Spanish influences from colonial times, is completely indecipherable to me. So I just laid on the beach for a few minutes, catching my breath.

He sat next to me, and we both chilled for a while. So here I was with what turned out to be a security guard named Yani. Initially, I could feel a lot of tension, which is understandable since his job as a security guard was to scare me away, but as time passed, I could sense he was loosening up since I clearly didn´t make any attempts to cause any trouble.

“How long have you been here?” I asked

“About 6 months,” he answered in broken English.

“And how long will you be here?” He shrugged and looked at me with an “I don’t know yet” expression on his face.

“No one else is here?” I asked.

No.

So there was Yanni, the security guard, on an uninhabited island alone for many months with no one to talk to other than a crazy tourist like me here and there.

I spent a few more hours enjoying the serenity and beauty of the place before I decided to return.

On my way back, I couldn´t stop thinking about how hard that must be to endure. I have struggled my whole life with perceived loneliness and it is the reason I started therapy at one point. I would even go further and say that it is the root cause of a lot of bad habits like alcohol and other compulsive behaviors just to “not feel” and escape the present moment. I think this is true for a lot of people.

How much does he get paid for that? I wondered. It doesn´t matter.

Not enough, anyway.

That led me to think about all the other men out there who do the tough work our society is built upon. Construction workers, soldiers, miners, and firefighters—their work is often dangerous, overlooked, and simply taken for granted.

Not only are these men not appreciated nor respected but in many cases, they are looked down upon by the very people who benefit the most from their work.

This brings us back to "The Island with Bear Grylls," in which separate groups of men and women faced the harsh realities of survival without the aid of modern society.

The experiment showed that the men's group quickly organized and managed resources, exhibiting strong leadership and survival skills.

In contrast, the women's group completely faltered, disintegrated and needed rescue.

This would not be contentious if we weren't in 2024, with a large portion of society brainwashed into gender madness. Any normal person with half a functioning brain could have predicted this result. It should be completely uncontroversial. It turns out that being alone on your own is a skill that men are actually quite good at.

And many don't recognize that their greatest power lies in their ability to walk away.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

Roman

Land Your First Client In 5 Steps

Freelance Writers:

• Tired of getting paid per hour (or worse, per word?)

• Still relying on inconsistent word-of-mouth referrals?

• Ready to step off the freelancer hamster wheel?

Then you’re in luck! 

This FREE 5-day email course will help you:

• Craft an irresistible offer

• Charge premium prices

• Land your first $5,000 client

Click here to get instant access.