Pain and Fear outside of Las Vegas

This has nothing to do with Vegas, but I've always liked that movie and book title.  Recently, I've been thinking about pain and how it motivates/teaches us behaviors.  Since my mind wanders even at my most focused, I thought I'd write some thoughts down

I can't remember where I read it, but somewhere on the internet, a woman was wondering why people let rejection stop people for asking women out.  The first thing that flashed through my head was "Because it hurts, duh."  Like that old doctor joke goes: "Dr, it hurts when I do this."  "So don't do that."  Our minds and bodies are hardwired (in most cases) to not do things that are painful.  I tend to think that on a biological level, our bodies are Utilitarians:  do what makes you feel good, avoid things that hurt.

However, there is this little thing called the brain that gets involved.  It lets us decide that even though the triple chocolate brownie in front of us will taste triple very good, it'll also make us gain weight, which will make us feel bad.  (It also circumvents that whole procedure by reasoning that if you take a 5 hour walk later, you'll burn off those calories.  That's right, I'm calling the brain a liar and manipulator.)

So pain becomes a tricky thing.  After I've sprained my ankle (pick any of the three trillion times I've done it) it's been hard to fence with the confidence and abandon that I really need to to get anything done.  There's always that little mental restricter plate there, making sure that the muscle memory isn't taking over and 'hurting' the body again.  It always takes a while to convince the mind (which is the mind convincing itself...paging Dr Freud) that it'll be OK.

I kind of mentally put pain in two categories: Wasabi and Cayenne Pepper.  Wasabi pain is sharp, huts like the dickens, but passes quickly and doesn't leave any permanent damage.  CP pain lingers and causes chemical burns (literally and figuratively.)  Wasabi pain is no big deal.  You squint your eyes and utter something guttural, then you're good to go.  CP pain can ruin your evening.

It's also interesting to note that people have different tolerances for pain.  I've known people who basically can't walk due to a sprain, and I've known others who just tighten up the shoe and limp along.

To answer (kind of) the woman's question (which wasn't directed at me, but I don't think she is one of the 3 people who reads this blog) some guys don't ask women out because the rejection hurts, and you sometimes have to get rejected a lot to get to someone who doesn't reject you.  Say you get rejected 10 times in a row.  Logic would tell you that you're going down in flames on number 11 also, so there is more reason to avoid the pain.  I personally think it's more terrifying when they say 'yes', but that's my own personal issue, thank you very much.

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[Maxwell]

When I came to he was burnt but alive.
The desert had grown and the walls smoked blue into a dark sky. It was cold and the glass and mortar had shivered to almost nothing.
There were bodies in the streets.
We made it, I thought.