I think there are two types of stress that I typically endure:
#1 the stress of taking on too much
#2 the stress of decision making
Stress #1 is basically a time management issue. Either you make too many discrete commitments to work/others/yourself or you just slowly increase your general commitments until the stress gets to a critical mass and you snap. This is often referred to as the boiled frog syndrome. Basically, the theory says if you drop the frog into a pot of water that is too hot then frog will quickly jump out and hop away. Conversely if you drop a frog in water at room temperature and slowly increase the temperature the frog will boil and die. Of course my reptile culinary skills are fairly short on practical experience so I will have to take folks word on this. It sort of makes sense though, so I am willing to rely on the anecdotal evidence. I think the biggest difference with humans vs. frogs is that humans are intelligent enough to anticipate and foresee the temperature rise well in advance. That is not to say that humans (at least this human) has the intellect to turn down the heat.
#1 the stress of taking on too much
#2 the stress of decision making
Stress #1 is basically a time management issue. Either you make too many discrete commitments to work/others/yourself or you just slowly increase your general commitments until the stress gets to a critical mass and you snap. This is often referred to as the boiled frog syndrome. Basically, the theory says if you drop the frog into a pot of water that is too hot then frog will quickly jump out and hop away. Conversely if you drop a frog in water at room temperature and slowly increase the temperature the frog will boil and die. Of course my reptile culinary skills are fairly short on practical experience so I will have to take folks word on this. It sort of makes sense though, so I am willing to rely on the anecdotal evidence. I think the biggest difference with humans vs. frogs is that humans are intelligent enough to anticipate and foresee the temperature rise well in advance. That is not to say that humans (at least this human) has the intellect to turn down the heat.
Stress #2 is more around fear. What will happen if I make the wrong choices? What will this do to me physically/emotionally/financially? Just how stupid is this going to look when I screw it up? Not sure if there is a parallel syndrome to the frog analogy here. If anyone who reads this knows of one please do share. For me it is just a fear of failure. One thing I have learned about this stress, for me anyway; once the decision is made the stress basically disappears. I'm more a "face to the gale" kind of person. Perhaps I have not chosen wisely, but once the decision is made and I relinquish control I am pretty good at letting it go. I can deal with the consequences. I see too many people way too often stressing over stuff that they cannot control or even influence. I'm incredibly lucky to not possess this trait. Things are bad enough.
Last week saw the culmination of a couple of these stresses for me.
Four months of training and racing was wrapped up with, what I have learned to call, a moderate success at IMC and 11 months of research, stupid questions, negotiations and decision making lead to several selections on floor layouts, elevations, windows, doors, log type, log style, log builder, septic builder, building location, power line location, well line location, septic field location, driveway location, a bunch of agreed contracts and ultimately a pretty big hole in the ground.
Taking out 18-22hrs of training a week will be a pretty big releif on my time constraints. As for the hole in the ground......face to the gale I suppose.
Cheers
Peter
I would say your Ironman was more than a moderate success... Congrats again!
ReplyDelete