Third Person - 3/8/19

The walls are creeping in. Sounds begin to turn muffled as your heart begins to pound. You feel your breathing shorten to quick shallow pulses as an imaginary anaconda wraps around your rib cage and slides over your throat. The thought of suffocating only makes your breathing worse and your heart pound faster. The only thought you can think of is how you just CAN’T anymore. 

Can’t pull through. Can’t complete. 

Can’t survive. 

We’ve all felt some sort of extreme panic and stress in our lives. These feelings were designed to keep us safe in our caveman past. They made us cautious, protected us from danger, and overclocked our muscles so we could escape whatever it was that was chasing us or fight to the death.

But what about now? What are we running from?

The lions, tigers, and bears have turned into financial instability, not graduating with honors, and the thought of dying alone in this fast-paced world. As we move faster toward an unprecedented evolutionary future, our bodies will always be trying to catch up to our modern world. In a way, we’ve outgrown our biological programming forever (at least until the next Apocalypse). 

What if we could rise above our firmware, just for a moment?

Picture yourself doing exactly what you are doing right at this moment. You may envision yourself as a character from The Sims, perhaps your favorite third person shooter (I go with Grand Theft Auto V), or whatever gets you to see “yourself” from the outside. What is your “you” doing? What is your “you” wearing? What behavioral options are available? What is around them that could help them with their goals? It could be another character in your world waiting to be asked a question. It could be a book waiting to be read. Food or drink waiting to be consumed. A bed waiting to refresh one’s health. 

We’ve all seen an NFL quarterback snap a ball and throw it directly to a defender. Is he blind?! Didn’t he see the defender just standing there?? We forget that we, as the audience, can see the whole field and all player positions from above on a 70”+ HDTV while reaching into a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. We don’t see his view of 300+ lb. linemen blitz rushing to crush him, receivers running like cheetahs in complex patterns in both peripheries, and having to make a decision to throw accurately, fake pump, or run… all within the time it takes to say the words “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” 

Being able to see ourselves outside of ourselves is a powerful tool to reduce the effects of pain, interpreting attacks as personal, and allows us to be resourceful. Things are happening to you and within you. But once the third person mode is switched, one becomes a person of the person. You begin to see the things around you. Causation. Effect. 

Life is easier looking from the outside and from above. 

Some of you have heard of my cold showers. My cold showers are my challenge each time I attempt them. This discomfort is well… uncomfortable. But being able to withstand this brief (not even 5 minutes!) but daily discomfort gives me confidence that I can comfortable being uncomfortable when it really matters. When the water goes on and my brain makes the switch (first 30 seconds), it goes from being cold to me feeling alive and energized. 

I lean in. Face. Head. Mouth. I’m a goddamn polar bear. 

I make sure the knob is as cold as it can go and am disappointed when the limit is reached. I roar. I am invincible. Look at timer. Shit, still three minutes to go. Fuck, I’m shaking. I can do this. Whew! I did it! I feel fucking amazing. 

Every. Single. Time. 

But to me, that is life compressed into five fucking minutes. I look at myself from the outside and I’m doing something that is good for me. I am no longer just the man. I’m the man controlling the man. 

When it gets tough, try toggling to life in third person. Become the person in control of the person.

All while reaching into a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Fuck yeah, it’s Friday!

Grand Theft Auto V by Rockstar Games