Earlier this year, I gave an interview to the marketing team for an undisclosed major outdoor retail brand. While I was never made aware of the exact reason the in-person interview was taking place, I had a blast spending about 90 minutes with the crew, talking all-things-outdoors. In case you don’t know me really well, at heart, I am your typical running nerd. As you might expect, it wasn’t long until we started to take a pretty deep dive into my love of running and the lure that the nearby Rocky Mountains have over my soul.
As our conversation continued, we shifted to the subject of fear when out in the wilderness. I ended up telling a story about a solo weekend outing in which I found myself in some pretty nasty weather. Though I had all the right gear with me: satellite beacon, food, extra clothing, etc and I was never truly in any danger, the mere thought that I was on some sort of edge kept me 100% dialed-in to the task of getting to my destination. As I told my story, the interviewer sat, listening attentively. Much to my surprise, afterwards, she was chuckling a bit. “This entire interview, and it took you up until a story where you felt scared to show me a smile that big?!?” she said. Apparently, my face had just LIT up when speaking, and, in reflection, I could see it too. Why had I reacted like that?
I thought about this occurrence for quite a few weeks. What was so different about that story that sparked joy and life into me? Then, one day, while talking to some friends about the rise in popularity of trail running events, it hit me. People crave adversity in their lives. Actually, scratch that, they NEED adversity in their lives!
The guy who sits alone in a cubicle for 50 hours each week signs up for an ultramarathon to feel like he’s part of something bigger than himself. The brotherhood and camaraderie that comes along with completing a trail ultra is powerful! In our daily, civilized cultures, though, people go from air-conditioned houses into air-conditioned cars and make their way into air-conditioned work spaces. Unless you specifically choose to be under a little duress, you can live comfortably forever. This sounds great until you realize that the human species did not evolve because we chose comfort.
While I’m not saying that everybody needs to take cold showers all the time, putting yourself in a place of discomfort enables a primal side of your brain to engage. This reptilian part of your brain thrives on binary decisions – am I safe or not? Pick one. When you subject yourself to a little bit of duress, you can help fine tune the workings of your fight-or-flight system. The daily stresses of life in 2020 try to keep this system turned on 24-7; you can help it discriminate between true threat and perception of threat by allowing it to function in its own right. For example, a 35-minute bike ride into work in the winter doesn’t typically appeal to the average cyclist, yet, it can be the crack in the door needed to reset your brain. When you choose to, in this case, ride into work despite there not being “perfect conditions,” you offer the autonomic nervous system a chance at doing its job. So, how will you add some adversity to your life?
There are a number of action steps you could take right now. Whether for completion or competition, that endurance event that you’ve been procrastinating in registering for – sign up! Have you always wanted to try acro yoga? Take an introductory class! Grown tired of rock climbing indoors and have wanted to get outside? Find a camp! OR, for those of you that just want to shake your life up a bit, creating a touch of adversity twice a day, start riding your bike to work. Simply pick one day a week as a target and, before you know it, you’ll be trying to find ways to ride everywhere! Bike commuting will change your life in ways you will not imagine, and you’ll find yourself smiling just a bit more each day because of it.
