So, two summers ago I worked at a military training camp as a field technician. As a civilian, I was privileged to see a lot of what goes on behind the scenes of a training camp. I guess some of the guys were bored and offered to take me and the others on my crew rappelling on their tower. Because my fear of heights had been progressively getting worse, I didn't want to participate, but I offered to take pictures of the crew.
Apparently, military people think that everyone should like what they like. They coerced me into climbing the tower and donning their gear. I had a panic attack right there, but somehow didn't go back down the tower. I was probably too embarrassed.
After a very long time up on top of the tower, my body relaxed. My fear came under control enough that I was able to go down the freefall section of the tower. (It's actually the easier side.)
Well, two years later, I came across an explanation for my behavior. I found out why I could overcome this extreme fear and go down even though I was panicking earlier. There's a book called "Worry: Controlling it and Using it Wisely" by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell. It's kind of an older book (in the medical community, things become old fast), however, it has some good stories and explanations for things. Well, I was reading a section on panic and discovered this, "[It is a] biological fact that the body cannot maintain a state of peak anxiety much longer than ninety minutes, after which it runs out of the chemicals it needs to put itself on red alert. Therefore, the high anxiety has to pass, if you can endure it long enough." So, the military guys must have known that they just had to keep me up there long enough before I would rappel down. So, beware the military. They know the mind too well.
No comments:
Post a Comment