For me, just showing up for the traveling and writing gave me the power to overcome my fear of fear.
It is not so much the being exempt from faults, as having overcome them, that is an advantage to us.
Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.
You can look at my palm and see the storm coming. Read the book of my life and see I've overcome it.
For me, survival is the ability to cope with difficulties, with circumstances, and to overcome them.