Could You Survive A Year Alone at Sea?

Officials are still trying to confirm whether a missing fisherman could have truly survived 13 months at sea. It leaves me wondering how long I might be able to survive under similar circumstances.

According to TIME, as reported on yahoo, the man, believed to be Jose Salvador Alvarenga, turned up on the Marshall Islands after reportedly spending 13 months adrift at sea in a fishing boat.

The man says the teen-aged son of a friend who was with him, could not handle the diet of birds and turtles he was living on, and died of starvation. He says he drank rain water, as well as his own urine to stay hydrated.

Officials are trying to verify the man's story and his identity, wondering if this remarkable story of survival could possibly be true.

I have often wondered what I would do under similar circumstances. Would I have the will and the fortitude to survive?

Aside from the issues of food and water, and protecting yourself from the elements, is the problem of maintaining a sound mind. With no one to talk to, no contact with civilization, the constant fight to survive, and what must be an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, how many of us would likely give up and surrender to the predicament?

It is difficult to put yourself in a position like this. There's really no way of truly knowing what it would be like until you experience it for yourself.

I know it's just a movie, but every time I see the Tom Hanks movie  Cast Away I put myself in his "shoes" and begin to have those feelings of hopelessness. I believe thoughts of a spouse and loved ones would sustain me for a time, but at what point would the dire circumstances be too much.

I am hoping and expecting that I will never be tested in this way. And rather than wait until then to appreciate what I have, I think I will take some time to appreciate what I have - now.