Have you ever read a scary book or watched a scary movie? I used to do those things, but now all I have to do when I want a shot of adrenaline is look at the front page of the Wall Street Journal…there’s always something there to upset me.
When things are going smoothly in my life I do that when I first get up in the morning. It gets me going the same way coffee does for other people. And I figure it’s good exercise in stress-hardiness. It gives me practice converting a stressful thought/event into constructive action. I don’t know about you, but I can use all the practice I can get. 🙂
What about you? What, if anything, do you do to scare yourself? Why do you do it?
My daily dose of newspapers and magazines plus the web is enough to make me feel very satisfied with my life!
rummuser,
When you’re not leading a life of quiet desperation? 😉
Where would you say you were on the optimal stress curve?
bikehikebabe,
I assume you’re in the optimal zone on the curve? 🙂
Looney,
Where do you go on your trips? My wilderness days are over now but you bring back great memories.
bikehikebabe,
Yes, the trouble with winter is the sun sets so early.
I get it rummuser. It’s the comparison that makes your life feel good.
I get scared seeing my house stuffed with all my treasures. Get rid of them–no want them–no must get rid–no KEEP etc.
I get a fright now and then while out in the wilderness. Usually it is due to a miscomputation regarding how much distance I can cover along with a weather change.
Yes, the wilderness can be scary. Tom made the group of us turn around & go back once. Still we had to run to beat night.
I forgot. Not run, Ski. You don’t want to spend the night in snow. But when it happens, you make a snow-cave to stay in.
I don’t like being scared. So I don’t scare myself.
Life brings me enough without my adding to the pile. The possible death of a loved one is probably the scariest thing I have contemplated.
Evan,
I agree that it depends where we are on the optimal stress curve. You don’t need added excitement and things are going fairly smoothly for me right now. Notice I wrote, “When things are going smoothly….”
I agree that contemplating the death of a loved one is the scariest thing. I handle that one by making the most of the time we have together.
It depends a bit what you mean by smoothly.
I enjoy things going smoothly. If you mean boring that’s different.
Jean, I mostly hang out in the East Bay hills. With all the millions of people around, it still amazes me that these quiet and remote hills can always be counted on for solitude.
A challenge of recent years has been to plan some adventure around a business trip.
I heard a song on a children’s tv show once and it went something like this: “It’s kinda fun getting scared, when you know it’s not for real.” That rang very true for me. I like scary stuff like movies and books sometimes, but not full of gratuitous sex and violence. There has to be some kind of method in the madness.
Evan,
If I start feeling bored I just find an interesting project to immerse myself in. And when life is presenting me with a lot of challenges I use them for my “stress-hardiness exercises”. But when things are going very smoothly I give myself a measured dose of potentially upsetting headlines to keep me limber.
Looney,
I’ve done that on business trips too. Might as well make the most of the opportunity.
gaelikaa,
Enough people like them that there is clearly some sort of pleasure involved. I’ve read discussions of how much we should shield kids from scary stories. One argument is, within reason, they help kids cope with a sometimes scary world. As you say, it’s kinda fun when they know it’s not for real.
Just left of center.