Why do we risk our health and safety?
Dear reader,
Human beings move toward pleasure and away from pain, right?
Like fun we do.
We often move toward pain.
We just coat it with pleasure.
We make even the prospect of pain
into a pleasure!
A whole lot of our “fun” is in taking risks.
Risks with a high chance of pain.
The riskier it gets, the more “fun.”
It’s called living on the edge.
For some of us,
it’s the only way of life we know.
If we are lucky
we wake up one glorious morning
and stop taking unnecessary risks
before it’s too late.
We come through a seriously close call
or learn from someone else’s tragedy
in time to prevent our own.
What do you say we take a look together
at our attraction to risk,
and see if we can face it down?
Daredevil me
A few years ago, I am back on my bike
after not riding for a month due to eye surgery.
It’s a beautiful fall day and I’m feeling great.
I take off on my usual three mile course along the lake,
starting my stopwatch as I begin.
I’ll beat the times I was doing before!
I say to myself.
The first section is downhill for about a half mile.
I let it rip.
Whoa! The wind is going right through me!
It’s not summer any more.
But I am flying!!!
Going way faster down this hill
than I have ever allowed myself before!
Hardly touch the brakes.
Now I know I will beat my previous times!
I will spare you the details
but ten minutes later
on my way across a hill
I capsize.
Fall off backwards.
Land on my back.
My head hits hard on a rock
making such a loud BANG
I think I have a head injury!
Then…
I realize
it was all noise and no pain.
My state of the art helmet has totally protected me.
I lie there looking up at the sky
as the shock wears off.
There are people there offering assistance.
I find I am not injured
other than a sore back
and sore legs where my bike landed on me.
In other words, I am damn lucky.
I walk my bike home.
So, what caused my crash?
The whole thing was reckless.
I was showing off.
I was out to prove how tough I am.
I didn’t care that I was taking a risk.
All I cared about was speed.
Did I know that what I was doing was dangerous?
Yes.
Was there a certain thrill in that?
Yes.
So,
what do you call someone who is attracted to danger
and gets pleasure out of the risk of pain?
A masochist.
Did I get the fiasco that I was flirting with?
Yes.
Am I embarrassed to admit that?
Yes.
Can we change the subject?
Let’s talk about you 🙂 !
What’s your risk of choice?
Ah, there are so many ways
for us to harm ourselves!
We can speed on bikes
in cars
in trucks
on motorcycles.
We can drink and drive.
Not wear seat belts.
Text while driving.
Play it loose with stop signs.
Pass going up a hill.
Weave in and out of traffic.
Oh, and have a mighty attack of road rage
when someone else does the same thing!
We can fill our lungs with smoke.
We can experiment with drugs.
We can gorge on heart attack junk.
We can poison ourselves with pornography.
Have casual sex with multiple partners.
Omit birth control.
Omit protection from STD’s.
Cheat on our spouse.
The list is endless!
What do all these risks have in common?
They appeal to our attraction to danger.
We find danger exciting.
Danger is our drug of choice.
It’s cheap.
Easy to get.
Easy to get addicted to.
Taking risks gives us the illusion of strength!
We feel immortal
as we court death.
And the closer we get to death
the more exciting it feels.
Living on the edge makes us feel alive!!!
Even if we’re half dead.
Sometimes our risk-taking originates
from well hidden depression.
In the neurosurgery ward
I used to work in the neurosurgery ward
of a major urban hospital.
They brought the young guys there
after their motorcycle and car crashes.
Most were paraplegics,
paralyzed from the waist down.
Some were “quads” (quadriplegics)
meaning they were paralyzed all over.
None of them could pee on their own.
Every morning
an orderly in a blue uniform
would arrive
carrying a tray of bottles.
I would watch him
walk down the hall
going into each room
to siphon the pee out of each guy.
Later in the morning,
I would go in their rooms
and talk with them.
I remember one very small young guy
who was totally paralyzed.
He told me he wasn’t wearing a seat belt
and went through the windshield of a truck
when it ran into the car ahead.
“I shoulda bounced,“ he told me, with a brave smile.
Preventive action
So, how do we prevent tragic outcomes?
We spoil the “fun” of risking or ruining our lives.
We spoil the “fun” of harming ourselves.
We spoil the “fun” of ignoring all the tragedies
happening to other people
who take serious risks.
How do we spoil the “fun”?
We face what our risk-taking really is:
a veiled form of suicide.
Yeah.
That’s what it is.
I’m sorry to have to say it
and I wish it weren’t so,
but when we take risks
we are embracing self destruction.
So what do we do?
We ask ourselves:
“In what areas of my life
am I allowing myself
to do dangerous and self damaging activities?”
We all know
when we are courting death and disaster.
But we think it’s cool!
It’s a great movie,
and we are playing the lead.
It’s amazing!
It’s really fun!
Until it isn’t.
In order to stop this flick
before it’s too late
we have to challenge ourselves.
We have to ask:
“Why am I so attracted to danger?”
“Why am I asking for a disaster?”
“Why do I want to ruin my life?
“Why do I enjoy flirting with death?”
Physician heal thyself
What about me?
Am I immune to the attraction to danger?
I have already confessed I am not.
Alas, none of us is immune to it.
We all have a varying degree
of unconscious masochism.
This means I have to challenge mine.
So,
when I first get on my bike,
even before I feel tempted
to race faster than I can handle,
I challenge myself with these questions:
“Why am I attracted to danger and excited by risk?”
“Why do I want to be destroyed in a bike crash?”
“Why am I asking for disaster by going past my safe speed limit?”
As I think about extreme speed,
I can count on being inwardly told:
“You can handle it!”
This is a lie.
It is the lie we are told
in situations of risk and temptation
by the destructive side of our mind.
No, I can’t handle it.
None of us can.
Blessings,
Dr. Hall
Question:
Have you ever refused to take a risk everyone else was taking?
I agree with Olusegun. Everyone takes risks of one sort or another. If we are honest with ourselves, there is at least one item on the list that we have been associated with.
I have always wondered why so many people are thrilled by living on the edge - risking so much. I do remember how much I loved things like intense roller coaster rides when I was very young. Then one day, it lost its appeal. A friend asked me why. I wasn't sure, but maybe I had become old enough to visualize myself being thrown out of the car and into a tree.
When I was 17 or 18, I had a motorcycle accident. My beloved Honda Super Hawk caught a patch of "black ice" and suddenly the bike and I were separated - both of us were spinning around as we slid down the dark road. I'll never forget the shine of the headlight shooting around in circles in the trees.
My Dad had warned me not to ride that winter night. But I KNEW I would be OK. Because we don't think bad stuff will happen to us. Not me. I'm special. As you said: "I can handle it." I learned that it is bullshit.
A couple of years later I was commuting to college on Highway Route 91. It was that winter four o'clock getting dark quick time of day. A sudden snow squall was creating white out conditions. The highway was becoming an ice packed super slippery surface. I had reduced speed dramatically. Up ahead I saw a "pile up" of cars. I tapped the brakes, trying to slow down...and not spin out. It was hopeless. The brakes were useless. I slammed into the pile up. But phew. I was apparently OK. Just pain in my wrists from slamming into the dashboard. (I am old enough to be pre-airbag).
And then, it occurred to me that there are probably vehicles behind me who can't stop either....wham! A pickup slammed into me. Phew again. I was intact.
And then, it occurred to me that MORE vehicles could be coming!. I tried to exit. The doors were crushed closed. I was kicking them in an effort to escape as I felt the lesser impacts of car after car hitting the ones behind me. I was OK. Grateful beyond words. I crawled out a window to see that my car looked like an accordion.
Ask me how I drive now. After all these years, how do you think I feel when someone tailgates me or cuts in front of me at 75 MPH? The point of these two tales of near death are that I was fortunate and learned. Some accuse me of driving too carefully. My response is: "How do you feel about dying a terrible death or a painful disablement - or causing such for others?"
Old guy to idiots who drive like they are in a video game: It is not a game.
Yes, I have refused. However, I was going to say "I am risk averse" until you listed the risk types; which was much broader than my understanding of risk. Now, I know that everyone probably categorises risk differently. I enjoyed this piece 👍