So a couple of weeks ago, I was attending a workshop relating to bushcraft. I had gotten a lift to the site, and as the driver was pulling away from the venue, my heart dropped as I suddenly became painfully aware that I had left my phone in the car.
Luckily, due to the nature of the workshop, I had brought along an emergency contact form for my instructor which had the phone number of my sister as a point of contact, which I then called from a mobile belonging to a local resident, and I was able to get a message to the necessary people to inform them of the situation. I wasn't overly concerned, as I had the means to get myself home, which was over 15 miles away, but it occurred to me that if this had been much farther and I had little to no money, the situation could have been much worse.
When I finally returned home 4 hrs after the course, I set about creating a small list of trusted emergency contacts on a credit card-sized piece of paper that was then laminated to preserve it for longer.
Keeping a small list of contacts on your person can mean the difference between life or death in extreme situations. As I made my way home, I treated this particular situation as a life lesson and a training scenario.
The lesson I took from this experience is that we can't plan for ALL situations, but we can certainly learn from them.
I was made aware that I was far too dependent on my phone, and a brief moment of forgetfulness can leave us up the creek. Instead of panicking, I remained calm and considered all my options.