What Do You Do When You Are Trapped Under Ice?

Imagine being trapped under ice?  No, I'm not talking about the Punk-Rock band or the Metallica song--but actually being personally trapped under the ice in a flowing river?  First thing you would have to be is smart or you would be dead.

You would have to be focused on getting downriver to where you could see an opening.  If you could hold your breath long enough to get there, you could come up for air, pull yourself out of the river, and potentially survive.

But what if you were indecisive, upset about being trapped under ice and wanting to swim backwards, against the current, to get out where you fell in?  Would that be smart?  I don't think so.  Once you are trapped under ice, you would have to think quickly and act quickly to make the smartest possible decisions or death would be inevitable.  There would be no time for idle thoughts, abulia, or inaction, such as stopping your swim to contemplate how you found yourself trapped under ice...

"They told me the ice was thick enough to hold my weight--how could they do that?"

"I should not have fallen through the ice, I do not accept that I did, I refuse to accept this situation"

"I'm going to get that person who told me the ice was thick enough!"

etc. etc.

Here is the thing:  In this scenario, you are where you are, and the only thing you can do is make it to the next opening down river.  You can't go back in time and make the situation not occur.  You are not Stephen Hawking, you do not own a time-machine, you are not Superman (who could fly around the


 earth and make it spin backwards making time go backwards...maybe). You were on the ice and so you are partially at fault for falling through.  You could have stayed onshore and not ventured onto the ice but you didn't.  You were on the ice, and whether you fell in, were pushed, were misled about the thickness of the ice--none of that matters now.

Get to the other opening, swim with the current, stay in survival mode, or you will perish; your body will go into hypothermia, your muscles will seize-up, your lungs will fill with water as you gasp for air, and you will drown.

Use your head and make it to the downriver opening and then fully assess the situation of WHY you found yourself trapped under ice--do this mental exercise then, not now, so you can survive and then learn from the incident.  Maybe when you make it to the next opening and pull yourself out, you will be better off for having gone through the ordeal?