Kari and I are in Maui having our annual conference for ATS, and while I am here, I am taking on a few activities that play on peoples fear to do some research.
Fear is a funny animal. It holds no basis in the “right now”, as it is an emotion of the future. Yet, it can cause the total unraveling of cognition towards even a simple a task as making a decision, or a simple motion.
The acronyms we learn from in training help us understand the types of fear we encounter. It is the understanding of the fear emotion that helps us move past it’s debilitating effects.
The scenario we encountered yesterday was interesting, because it gave me the opportunity to watch others experience fear, as well as to participate in it myself. Here on Maui, as many of you may know, there are two giant mountains which are volcanic in nature that form the majority of the Island. We ventured to the top of the volcano yesterday. On the way down we stopped at an eco-tour zipline adventure.
The tour was a walk in the woods to look at some birds and trees, and while we were walking we would come to some gorges that we would cross on ziplines. A zipline is basically a cable strung between trees or posts that crosses the gorge, and you ride across it via the effects of gravity on a pulley and harness.
The first zipline was pretty docile. It was only about 130ft. The gradient was gentle, and the speed was low. The level of fear apparent was fairly low, because the fall didn’t appear to be horrible if all went wrong, it was a short distance across, and one of the guides went first to ease the tension.
However, there was a twist, literally. To steer yourself while you were zipping, you needed to have your fingers in the hook latch you were hanging from, and you needed to twist it in the opposite direction that you wanted to turn yourself in the harness. It was counter intuitive to instinct, and many of the people were landing on the other side of the gorge backwards.
Fortunately, the ramps were built to allow a bit of a crash area if you came across a bit screwy. We were told that the last few were not constructed that way, so we had to learn on the first few to land straight ahead. What? We could get hurt? Whoop whoop, up goes the fear for later, when the line would get steeper, longer, and the consequence of a fall got a bit more, hmmmm, shall we say, “unsurvivable”!
The fear I observed came in a few forms. Two of our female companions faced theirs on the trail to the second zip. While they felt they “just survived” the first zip, they were already worried about the second. Their steering had been off on the first run, and they landed sideways. They talked about how hard it was to steer opposite of the way they wanted to turn. One of them landed exactly backwards because she was instinctively turning the buckle in the direction she wanted to go. (Read my first three parts in the series on confidence affecting cognition, and FEAR is another of those factors that affects our ability to think rationally)
The amazing thing is, the whole walk to the second zip talking about how scared they were and how they couldnt think to turn themselves around in time. Then, as they saw the next zip, the fear really built up. Amazingly, or not, the same two landed backwards again. They knew what they had to do, so why didn’t they do it?
First we have to look at a few of the acronyms associated with fear, then we have to understand what it is that fear actually does to impede our ability to act in a way that is more desirable to the situation.
False Evidence Appearing Real
When you look at something, or a situation, you see the inherent problems with it vs. whatever experiences, or lack of experiences with that type of problem you have had in the past. This is your amygdala (subconscious radar and alarm system)and your hippocampus (junction of emotional and rational brain experiences)dueling for control of your response. The amygdala is your body’s “alarm” system. It senses your impending danger, and sends an alert to your sympathetic nervous system to ready your body for survival. Your hippocampus, all the while, is your librarian of experiences searching your catalog of life knowledge looking for a match that says this isn’t a bad thing. The hippocampus is searching for a shut off code for the alarm system. If it doesn’t find anything to support an alternative explanation to the amygdala’s alarm, it sends the claxon to the amygdala to fire the full fight-flight response. (This is the explanation I have obtained from no less than 5 sources of scientific research) From there the thalamus and the adrenal glands start their gig, and the whole “adrenaline dump” begins. Its a lot more science than I am prepared to get to after the longboard beers I had last night. Just go with me on this.
So, you can see that these women had no previous experiences with the zip, and saw some real fear before taking the first ride. The difficulty they had in steering, coupled with the knowledge that it would get harder as we progressed led to the next acronym. (dont think I’m singling out the girls, because a muscle head from Detroit showed the biggest fear response of the day at the “grand finale” zip, I thought he was going to cry!)
False Expectations Appearing Real
As we all stood at the second zip, you could see the nervous anticipation of the folks who had some difficulty on the first. Now, their hippocampus had a failure to report with this fear. The focus was brought to the previous failure, and what do you know…. Yep, more fear. Their performance on the second zip was as bad as the first. One lady landed completely backwards, and the other who had issues before also, landed sideways. Fortunately, the guides were excellent at catch and spin.
(It is worthy to note that I was having the time of my life due to my love of all things flying. The guide asked me to make a ridiculous Captain Morgan pose on my second zip) pic included!
As a coach, I could clearly see what was happening to these two women, and their husbands were no help to them at all. As we walked to the third zip course, I was between the two of them, and not to sound coachy I added that it was really hard for me to decide to go against my natural instinct to twist opposite of the turn. They agreed. I likened the experience to driving in the snow, which both of them had done, and turning against a skid. It was like a lightbulb went off and they both just “got it”. The one lady began saying it, steer opposite the skid and she was twisting her hand opposite her body. The other started doing it too. They “decided” to do something that they knew was against their natural instincts.
I think what was very interesting was that once they identified the experience that they could bring to bear with this fear, as well as the confidence that two rides had brought that they would not fall to their deaths, then aced the last two rides. Heck, one of them jumped up and volunteered to go first on the grand finale zip of over 350 feet, which was, in my opinion, the most kick ass ride I have had in a while.
Failure Expected Action Required
I got a bit cocky on the third zip. I thought I had mastered the steering issue on the first two rides, and was intending to do 360 degrees of turns on ride 3, the longest and steepest ride yet. I managed a full 180 to the left, and was coming back right with a little spiderman pose. I had taken too long, and I didn’t think I was going to get all the way out and back to land straight ahead. My misjudgement fired off a fear signal that the landing would suck. Guess what, it did. I had overcompensated the return pressure to get myself straightened out, and went too far the other way. Fortunately, I landed on one foot (the guides), and only minimally scraped my leg on the decking. Dumbass. Fortunately, when I realized my error, my fear of landing sideways (which would have had consequences) fired off some real strength in my wrist to get me turning back. While I did overcompensate, I landed in a manageable way, rather than getting injured landing sideways. The guide said it was an awesome recovery, because he was already unfolding the bodybag when he saw me go for the second turn. My amygdala fired, my hippocampus confirmed, and my sympathetic nervous system gave me the strength to turn back, HARD. The awesome thing is that my decision, practice, and familiarity with the solution allowed me to override the instinct to turn in the wrong direction and save the injury!
I promised that the guys were not left out in this, and as I already skewered myself above, I wanted to share with you the most embarassing fear moment we had. This guy from Detroit was giving his wife a hard time most of the course. He was utterly humbled by the last zip. It was better than 350 ft across, and more than 100 feet down, and I was jacked up for the speed to come!!! He did not share my enthusiasm. When his turn came up, and he stood on the “plank”, he froze. His bottom lip quivered. He didn’t want to go. In walks Fear’s drunken cousin, shame. This dude walked around with his chest puffed out all day, now he stood humbled by a real zip. Most all of the men were still at the top of the course, and he stood there like a deer in the headlights. I’m sure that the shame of it pushed him to take those few steps and leap, but man, his image as a tough guy dwindled and died right there on the plank. I would guess that his ego would rather have had the cable snap and him plummet to his death than face all the girls that saw him shirk in adversity.
I havent figured out exactly what vehicle shame uses to motivate someone yet, but those were some heavy steps that big old boy took, and you couldn’t miss the quiverring bottom lip. Too funny!
Anywho, my darling wife jumped up in front of me to go first, and I still can’t figure out if she is the bravest woman I have ever known, or she just had to pee really bad, but away she went! I was so proud of her yesterday, I just wanted to post her picture on that last jump! She is a brave, confident, and wonderful woman! Now she is forever immortalized on the net!
The real learning I got from watching the two ladies that started off a little rough, was that by giving them the opportunity to relate to something they knew, and watching them decide to take action. That moved them through their fear and on to enjoyment of a really cool activity.
My compliments to Shane and George, our guides at the Skyline Eco-Tour Zipline Adventure for an enjoyable afternoon, and some real cool adrenal moments!
It may take a few weeks to get feeling back to the “groin area” from the harness and the riding, but I highly suggest anyone seeking an achievable, fun, and worthwhile adventure do this at the earliest possible convenience.
My disclaimer is that you should always look at the quality of the cable, what it is tied to, and the sobriety of your guide. If he hands you a beer and says, “hold this while I try something”, just leave.
Fear need not hold you back. Find a way to learn, or reframe what causes it, and most importantly, decide you will act in a more desirable way to achieve your outcome. It may take time and practice, but you should not limit your adventure, your living, or your love of this life for a little thing like fear!