4 preservation instincts that have been engraved onto my brain

Living in Canada and Australia has taught me a few things about staying alive. Granted, I've never met someone with a gun or had to use my non-existent knowledge of karate to get out of a tight spot, but still. I've learned something (and I am passing my knowledge onto you, because I am awesome (obviously)). 

1) When going into a bathroom, check the corners of the ceiling and the floor. This is to avoid having a surprise visitor when you least expect it, such as a massive huntsman spider (which is another story). If you know what's in there before going in, you're less likely to get into a sticky situation that even Spider-Man would have a hard time getting you out of. Why a bathroom especially? Bathrooms are small. They have drains and air vents. There's little room for you to get out, and lots of ways for stuff to get in. Other rooms, you typically have a lot more room to throw yourself out the door/window/wall. A quick scan will save your life, people, that's all I'm saying. 

THIS THING FREAKS ME OUT EVERY TIME!!!

2) When running on any surface, brace yourself to slide around and possibly slip on the ice. I was running into the house the other day - this was in Australia, by the way - and I raced up to the front door. We have tile in our front entrance, and unconsciously I slowed down and braced myself to slip on the non-existent ice. Seriously. My body went "Ah, the tile may be black but the ice is clear! Don't slip!" and my brain went "You idiot, how long have you lived in Australia for?" but I slowed down anyways. In Canada, not slipping on ice is Survival 101. I didn't realize how much this one was engraved on my mind until this happened. 

3) Do not diss sports teams of any kind. Don't. Just, don't.

4) Do not go racing through the woods unless you want to die a scary and/or painful death. This one is sort of true in Canada, but more so in Australia. In Canada, all you have to worry about are bears, cougars and wolves, and, come on, how many of those are out there? I've seen two bears in my entire life, and one of them had a permanent place on our garage wall for years. Still, caution is recommended. But in Australia? EVERYTHING CAN KILL YOU. Kangaroos, wasps, grass (it hides snakes), bugs the size of your fist (more or less), trees (full of biting green ants and who knows what else), nooks and crannies (spiders, snakes), koalas (you thought they were cute, did you?), the wide open space between the house and the fence (spiders are very good at making huge webs), [insert whatever you could possibly think of]. I am amazed that the population of Australia hasn't died out by now. Oh yeah, and that's not including the ocean (sharks, jellyfish, drowning, riptides, getting smashed against the rocks) or the outback (dehydration, starvation, heat stroke, snakes, getting trampled by cattle) or the city (murder, kidnapping, etc. (although the cities here actually aren't that bad from what I've seen)) or the weather (cyclones, floods, droughts). 

I'm sure there are about 50 million things
that can kill you in this picture.

If, however, you are planning on coming to Canada or Australia, I would recommend not freaking out. A lot of this post was (slightly) exaggerated, and as long as you don't do anything stupid you (probably) won't die a horrible death.

What are some survival instincts you've picked up?