4 ms·

Given a modicum of physical security, storms may well make many people feel better because they are do-or-die moments ( or feel like them). That report you hav

Given a modicum of physical security, storms may well make many people feel better because they are do-or-die moments ( or feel like them). That report you have to file with your boss next week? The fight with your partner? The stupid irritating thing your kid won’t stop doing? Completely and totally irrelevant, now. You have no ambiguities about what the goal is, and you know that you don’t need to justify this to anyone: it’s a storm, you have to get through it. That’s actually a weird kind of freedom: where most choices have been removed from you by powers well outside anyone’s control, which bear you no personal malice, you just have to roll with it, and nobody can fault you for that, and sometimes that feels great.

ZeroFries 7y ago
I sometimes feel the same way when sick and I accept that I'm just going to have to put everything on hold until I get through it.
vanderZwan 7y ago
That sounds a bit related (but maybe not quite the same as) the concept of benign masochism. You're also making me wonder: if we have a sort of "baseline happiness" then maybe we also have a "baseline fear and worry", and perhaps it is healthy for our minds to have an outlet to apply that fear to. Something concrete and external to apply the nagging worry in our heads to
- hprotagonist 7y ago
  benign masochism sounds more like https://kellycordes.com/2009/11/02/the-fun-scale/ https://kellycordes.com/2009/11/02/the-fun-scale/ to me.
  - vanderZwan 7y ago
    Without further context I can understand why that is one expected meaning of the term, but a quick skim read suggests it's not the same thing. The TL;DR of benign masochism is getting the upsides of feeling in danger without actually being in danger. It is one of the explanations for why people can learn to like spicy foods, for example: it is harmless pain.

ZeroFries 7y ago

I sometimes feel the same way when sick and I accept that I'm just going to have to put everything on hold until I get through it.

vanderZwan 7y ago

That sounds a bit related (but maybe not quite the same as) the concept of benign masochism. You're also making me wonder: if we have a sort of "baseline happiness" then maybe we also have a "baseline fear and worry", and perhaps it is healthy for our minds to have an outlet to apply that fear to. Something concrete and external to apply the nagging worry in our heads to

hprotagonist 7y ago
benign masochism sounds more like https://kellycordes.com/2009/11/02/the-fun-scale/ https://kellycordes.com/2009/11/02/the-fun-scale/ to me.
- vanderZwan 7y ago
  Without further context I can understand why that is one expected meaning of the term, but a quick skim read suggests it's not the same thing. The TL;DR of benign masochism is getting the upsides of feeling in danger without actually being in danger. It is one of the explanations for why people can learn to like spicy foods, for example: it is harmless pain.