Very very interesting. Makes total sense to me. I also see how people have been and are being pushed to live high-stress lives: dangerous virus, imminent war, climate monstrosities looming, and on. I am totally with you - and am for living a high passion / aliveness life which is low stress.
What about people who are adrenaline junkies? Those who seek the thrill of cheating death? I bought my first motorcycle when I was 14 years old. It was a free will choice of my own and represented freedom to me. I had earned the money and was advised by a trusted friend to invest in a mutual fund. I thought about it and bought the motorcycle.
It was everything I wanted and more and damn near killed me tens of times. When I got older, I bought a car, then a faster car, then an airplane.
As I got older, I developed more will power and became somewhat more in control.
“Body and Spirit, Mind and Will” became my ‘mantra’ my positive affirmation.
Later, I discovered the joy of Endorphin addiction. I had passed thru all the normal teenage addictions; Oxytocin the relationship hormone, and Dopamine addiction but they paled when I discovered endurance running. I would run until I felt no more pain. Then I would run until I could run no more. I called it the “Run, Walk, Crawl” method.
Physical pain, Spiritual pain, Mental pain can all depress one’s will to fight. But a single step, taken with purpose can lead to another step and another until the endorphins kick in and the pain fades away. Or perhaps the habit becomes fixed in one’s mind and movement with focus becomes the steady state.
Physical pain: I had a dislocated shoulder, mis-diagnosed as a torn rotator-cuff, declined surgery but it rang my bell at about a 5 on a pain scale of 1 to 10. Never mind the spiritual and mental pain, everyone has those but they are difficult to quantify.
You can run with a dislocated shoulder and the body distributes the endorphins throughout the circulatory system.
Yes, the Runners High is a real thing. The week I signed up for my first Marathon I ran for over 100 miles on the beach. On the soft sand, 26.2 miles on the hard road during the Marathon was much more punishing.
I was ready for the adrenalin rush of victory!
Pause for a hysterical moment of sarcastic laughter… Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha,…whew.
Insert remarks here about “a grandiose sense of self-worth”. (I’ll just leave a very large space here for those remarks)
The younger man who finished first was 31 minutes ahead of second place and I was well behind the early finishers… but I finished.
I had pulled a quad muscle in my thigh, from over training without a coach, but had discovered that two Motrin would dull the pain enough for me to start running. My friendly Endorphins would kick in and I was good to go.
I had a doctor friend that I called during the race to inquire about the maximum safe dose of Motrin… he laughed at me, but answered my question, and made a casual remark that changed my life. He said, “you runners always overdo it and hurt yourselves, come in and see me next week and I’ll try to help you out”
That was the last time I used pain relievers of any kind.
He called me a runner… that was 6 years ago.
I wanted to be a runner but did not believe I was, so his words were ambrosia to my spirit.
I continued to “run, walk and crawl” and got to the finish line, collected my “finisher medal” and went home to 3 months of crippled life, fighting thru therapy until I could walk again.
Insert Latin aphorism “What price Glory”
Hmmm, from “adrenalin junky” to the victory of the Will over the Body, Mind and Spirit.
Everyone is different and each person must seek their own peace and tranquility in their own way.
Very very interesting. Makes total sense to me. I also see how people have been and are being pushed to live high-stress lives: dangerous virus, imminent war, climate monstrosities looming, and on. I am totally with you - and am for living a high passion / aliveness life which is low stress.
What about people who are adrenaline junkies? Those who seek the thrill of cheating death? I bought my first motorcycle when I was 14 years old. It was a free will choice of my own and represented freedom to me. I had earned the money and was advised by a trusted friend to invest in a mutual fund. I thought about it and bought the motorcycle.
It was everything I wanted and more and damn near killed me tens of times. When I got older, I bought a car, then a faster car, then an airplane.
As I got older, I developed more will power and became somewhat more in control.
“Body and Spirit, Mind and Will” became my ‘mantra’ my positive affirmation.
Later, I discovered the joy of Endorphin addiction. I had passed thru all the normal teenage addictions; Oxytocin the relationship hormone, and Dopamine addiction but they paled when I discovered endurance running. I would run until I felt no more pain. Then I would run until I could run no more. I called it the “Run, Walk, Crawl” method.
Physical pain, Spiritual pain, Mental pain can all depress one’s will to fight. But a single step, taken with purpose can lead to another step and another until the endorphins kick in and the pain fades away. Or perhaps the habit becomes fixed in one’s mind and movement with focus becomes the steady state.
Physical pain: I had a dislocated shoulder, mis-diagnosed as a torn rotator-cuff, declined surgery but it rang my bell at about a 5 on a pain scale of 1 to 10. Never mind the spiritual and mental pain, everyone has those but they are difficult to quantify.
You can run with a dislocated shoulder and the body distributes the endorphins throughout the circulatory system.
Yes, the Runners High is a real thing. The week I signed up for my first Marathon I ran for over 100 miles on the beach. On the soft sand, 26.2 miles on the hard road during the Marathon was much more punishing.
I was ready for the adrenalin rush of victory!
Pause for a hysterical moment of sarcastic laughter… Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha,…whew.
Insert remarks here about “a grandiose sense of self-worth”. (I’ll just leave a very large space here for those remarks)
The younger man who finished first was 31 minutes ahead of second place and I was well behind the early finishers… but I finished.
I had pulled a quad muscle in my thigh, from over training without a coach, but had discovered that two Motrin would dull the pain enough for me to start running. My friendly Endorphins would kick in and I was good to go.
I had a doctor friend that I called during the race to inquire about the maximum safe dose of Motrin… he laughed at me, but answered my question, and made a casual remark that changed my life. He said, “you runners always overdo it and hurt yourselves, come in and see me next week and I’ll try to help you out”
That was the last time I used pain relievers of any kind.
He called me a runner… that was 6 years ago.
I wanted to be a runner but did not believe I was, so his words were ambrosia to my spirit.
I continued to “run, walk and crawl” and got to the finish line, collected my “finisher medal” and went home to 3 months of crippled life, fighting thru therapy until I could walk again.
Insert Latin aphorism “What price Glory”
Hmmm, from “adrenalin junky” to the victory of the Will over the Body, Mind and Spirit.
Everyone is different and each person must seek their own peace and tranquility in their own way.
“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet