I was riding home today with my friend the Vet. We were fighting a stiff headwind coming back from a ride up north near a little town called Radnor. We were riding along the River Road and I was “drafting” the Vet. I wasn’t directly behind him because the wind was coming off our right shoulder. Instead I was overlapping his rear wheel and just slightly out to the left of him. My legs felt like burnt toast. I was happy to have the Vet do the work, at least for awhile. Nobody was around. It was country. Yea baby…or so I thought.
The wind was blowing so loudly I didn’t hear the pickup truck until he was right behind me. He came as close to me as he could without hitting me. He drove past us about 50 yards and pulled his truck halfway off the road and waited. I knew what was coming.
The Vet road on by, but I pulled up next to him and stopped. He began to swear and his veins were popping everywhere. He reminded me that we weren’t riding single file. I reminded him that the law says we ride two abreast. He didn’t care about the law and I didn’t care to hear any more of his swearing. I called him an idiot (not good, I know) and he floored it, sprayed up some rocks and that was that.
The Vet and I crossed Home Road and I took the lead for the next couple miles. I took the speed up about 5 miles/hour. I held it around 22 mph into a 20 plus mile an hour wind. When we turned onto Rutherford Road, the Vet pulled up beside me and told me I had almost dropped him back there. He reminded me of how Taylor, my son, responds when he’s angry. We both laughed. He got me thinking.
I had been dead tired moments before some jerk in a pickup truck gets me all fired up. AND, without even trying, my performance skyrocketed as a result. Like I was on a drug or something. Here’s the truth….
I was.
You see, when we encounter a stressor, and respond like I did with ANGER, our body reacts with a cascade of chemicals. The sympathetic nervous system releases adrenaline, the pituitary gland releases multiple hormones including cortisol, and the brain releases pain killers such as endorphins. Yea, BABY!
I went from running on empty, to flying with chemicals. I went from slow and slower to fast and furious.
Here’s the problem with using brain chemicals to aid your performance. It comes at a high price. Whenever you engage your sympathetic nervous system and jolt your muscles with adrenaline you, temporarily, shut down your parasympathetic one. This is the one that manages your immune system and fights to keep you healthy and disease free. But not when it’s over-ruled by your “fight of flight” sympathetic one, look out. Who cares if you fight off that long term illness, when a crazy trucker is preparing to run you down!
Today, our modern lifestyle, has the average office worker “shooting up” with adrenaline every time the irate boss calls, a customer fires him, he’s competing for a promotion, and hundreds of other ways. AND this carry’s a high toll.
On your BODY.
Instead of being run down by a trucker, most are simply “RUN down.” According to Hans Selye, the guy that actually invented the term stress, this is serious stuff. He said, “My research appears to indicate that humans have only a limited supply of deep adaptive energy. Most of the energy expended in the stress response can be recovered through rest. But a certain amount of this energy resource may be irretrievably lost. For this reason, it is important to reserve this adaptive energy for those occasions where the issues are significant and not to squander it on trivial conflicts.” Yikes.
Soooooo, the VET was right. Next time, I’m gonna ride on by.
How well are you managing your stressors?
Are you aware of when your adrenaline kicks in and why?
Are you aware of some of ANGER triggers?
If you want some help identifying them, ask one of your truth tellers, your best friends, and your spouse.
Slow down and reflect…
BUILT TO LEAD 
This was a good day to meet with Chet right after he wrote this blog and tell him what I was “frustrated” about not getting done. After having me clarify 3-4 times, he helped me see i wasn’t really frustrated (except maybe from trying to answer his question!) — I just wasn’t valuing what I WASN’T getting done as much as what I WAS and so I wasn’t getting TO it (thank you, Chet).
What does YOUR little voice say to you to get things done? Do you “NEED-le” and “SHOULD” yourself to “fire” yourself up? If so, from what I just learned, it’s a way to get SHORT-TERM results but with the long-term costs on your body, you may as well be injecting steroids. Instead of FRUSTRATING yourself, FREE yourself to clarify what you VALUE about what you’re not getting to and WHY, and then CHOOSE to act.
When I realized part of my “WHY” was simply avoidance/delay/procrastination caused by FEAR, I was able to overcome it this afternoon by getting my FOCUS off my fears and back onto my dreams and what I love. Unlike the other kind of negative mule-driving self-talk, this kind leads first to CLARITY and then to COURAGEOUS ACTION, momentum & CONFIDENCE.
FREAKIN’ AWESOME Johnnytherue…now YOU’re talking.
Fight or flight; they both spring from fear. And they both shut down the parasympathetic nervous system (which feeds the “thinking” part of the brain) and turn on the sympathetic nervous system (which triggers the “action” part of the brain). Brain research has shown this chemical bath leads to feelings of disgust, anxiety, depression, and a condition the white lab coat guys call “unpleasant engagement with the environment.” Let’s call it UEWE for short…pronounced “yew”–just like it’s spelled!
Okay, so, I may be suffering the same or similar symptoms as that Johnnytherue dude. In fact, I may have infected him last week. My UEWE comes from allowing everyone else’s UEWE (anxiety, disgust, depression) to create more UEWE for me, which I’m sure creates more UEWE for them, and so on. Therefore, a.) Johnny, I’m sorry; b.) service to others is the antidote, so I’ll concentrate on that and c.) I’ll go back to ignoring “yew” in favor of “you.”
Misery loves company. They love it when they draw someone in. Being aware of your triggers, it becomes even more fun to ignore them because they get even madder. Have you ever tried to fight someone that will not fight back. Not much happens and the person wanting to fight becomes even more of a joke.
Inspiring people work from a completely different tact. They have family and friends but seem to keep attracting more friends rather than trying to snare more. Complete opposite?
I can be more of my own enemy, i do not need anyone to draw me in. I can be pretty good at drawing myself into my own battle. Perhaps gratitude for the gifts you have and the tomorrow we get to keep working on our magnum opus is worth contemplating. Thanks for all of your sharing.