How can individuals and societies deal with change? This article deals with the individual and collective options for adapting to extreme situations such as crises. The modern world requires such changes, for example to adapt to and mitigate climate change and allow societies to survive. This article begins with a review of a series of individual characteristics and actions that allow one to overcome a crisis. It then attempts to show to what extent these actions may be relevant at a country level by analyzing historical and contemporary examples.