In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Fear and Change

Discussion in 'The DIY Room' started by Dumf, Jun 29, 2020.

  1. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    I've had a past doing things that I shouldn't have done if I had had half a brain for safety. It all worked out with luck, and plenty of pro training assist and partners. Never had any great fear of heights climbing or other in service,
    We have had intermittent bad reception on the TV --OTA antenna above the ridge maybe 35' high. I installed it years ago. I go up to brush the two flues every year.
    This time standing on the ridge to repair and install a pre-amp on the antenna, I backed out. Too uneasy and shaky this time balancing on the ridge.
    Any of you ever had this kind of experience after doing something all your life ( working high, rock climbing, etc...), then all of a sudden you can't or don't feel comfortable doing it ?
     
  2. Eric VW

    Eric VW Moderator

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    Yep- a few years ago I went to climb a fire watch tower that I scaled many years ago- 3rd flight of stairs up I got the tunnel vision and increased heart rate and short of breath. Promptly turned around and went back down.
     
  3. bogieb

    bogieb

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    Not from climbing (Heights and I aren't friends), but there have been times that I went to get on the bike and had an overwhelming desire NOT to ride - shaky and butterflies (not the good kind) in the stomach. If possible, I've just turned around, taken my gear off and headed for a 4 wheel vehicle or just stayed home. Other times (if say I'm at work), I've delayed departure and been extra vigilant and/or changed my route home. Not saying I got prescience or anything, just that I've Never regretted paying attention to those feelings.

    Some days we aren't at our best and though our mind will try to hide it, or rationalize why we should go ahead and do something our bodies will try to warn us that maybe it isn't a good idea at the present time. Most likely you will be fine the next time, just don't try to over-analyze it.
     
  4. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    Great reply Bogieb ! On target.
    As we age the brain seems to do more for us than the physical. We learned situational awareness in training or doing risk. That carried me through some hairy times in the past.
    But small risks don't bother me such as my recent "back on a bike" twit falls. The roof thing mentioned was a whole other ball game.
    And the chainsawing: stop when any signs of being tired, engage the brake when moving, don't cut over your head or on a ladder, use shorter bars, etc... etc....When I first started with saws without any PPE, I'd cut
    in shorts and running shoes........... until first blood.
    It never ends.
     
  5. bushpilot

    bushpilot

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    Fear is a useful tool, sort of like the instruments in your car. It can tell you something is going on, when you might miss it otherwise. Those who ignore it do so at their own peril.
     
  6. metalcuttr

    metalcuttr

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    Used to run out on the Ocean Shores Jetty here in WA. Next to a dead run, leaping from rock to rock. Was out there recently and found myself teetering on each rock and keenly aware of the consequences of a slip and fall on a slimy rock. My shins and knees ached just thinking about a fall. Made it out and back at a sedate pace and made it to the truck unscathed. Could not shake the mental picture of chipped bones and torn flesh. Occasions like this make one sharply aware that "Time and the Tide wait for no Man"! But then I think that probably I still have a few Hurrahs left in this old carcass so a guy just has to keep rattling the old bones and moving ahead!
    jetty.JPG
     
  7. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    It's the 3 score plus that brings wisdom.....sometimes.
    Psychologists and intelligence rats did a study of fear on us jumpers using galvanic skin responses to charged words and interviews. Some of us had no fear before jumps, some during the jump, but many
    showed their fear well following jumps in tests, interviews, dreams. It is always somewhere.
     
  8. Horkn

    Horkn

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    Exactly.
     
  9. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    Remember, there's fear that is managed in critical situations.
    Then there's that uncontrollable, hysterical fear that destroys any situational awareness such as what we are seeing in riots.
    The trick is training and repeating to know how to handle it rationally.
    It's why I got the hell off the roof.
     
  10. JustWood

    JustWood Guest

    Did a 1 year stint as a steeplejack after high school. Re-coppered a dome on a steeple 180’ in the air off turnbuckle and wall jack scaffold. Rigged up and down scaffolding up to and tied into and on top of a church hip roof to replace slate and valleys. Reshaked and painted steeples off of a bolsons chair. Hairiest gig was replacing some stained glass windows inside a church about 20-30’ high scaffold with no tie ins and scaffolding was on casters. Something about freefalling onto oak pews didn’t set right. Did some wild chit back in the day.
    Today I’ll go about 20’ before I call it quits.
     
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  11. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    Plus ca change.
    What PITA to age !:santa:
     
  12. Stinny

    Stinny

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    "all of a sudden you can't or don't feel comfortable doing it ?" ... yes, much more than I want to accept. My "high roof" story... when we sold the old farm, a TV antenna was still clamped around one of the chimlees, and it had to go... a buddy brought his 40' alum ladder ovah and we climbed up. The ladder, fully extended, ended about 6" above the gable end roof peak... o_O... and when I got to it, I almost couldn't move. Spent most of my life on stupid high ladders, doing sign work. That was then. Now I was old, out of shape and shakin like a leaf. It only got worse after I slithered up on the peak, unbolted the antenna (and launched it off)... and then had to get back on the #%@*&%# ladder... :hair:... :picard:... my buddy was enjoying it all, waaaay too much... :D Yup, there are quite a few other things I used to do too, that I can't do now.
    Ahhh... the Golden Years... :deadhorse:
     
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  13. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    Hey, we will all join in a rousing chorus of CUMBAYA !! :singingintherain:
    ( Exemptions applied to those under 3 score ):dancer::dancer:
     
  14. Stinny

    Stinny

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    :rofl: :lol:... ayuh... :yes:
     
  15. Erik B

    Erik B

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    About a year and a half ago I went up on the roof in the winter to check on the chimney. I had been up there many times. This time I ended up falling off the roof. I did not get hurt but when I tried going on the roof in the summer, I couldn't do it.
     
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  16. savemoney

    savemoney

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    About the only thing I can do safely is sit here and type. Walking is risky. Fell out of bed twice this week. Can't walk to the mailbox without it being a taxing effort. I still drive around town, and I have a mobility scooter to get around the big stores with. It is amazing how many places I can't go with that scooter. Those double entry food places have corners too tight to turn. They leave waste cans in the way by the doors to men's room. Many places in stores too tight to get around in. Even the big stores leave things like ladders and lift, carts etc. in way. I think the stores need to put their staff in a scooter for a day and see how they do getting around. Maybe become more aware of what they are doing. What I have learned is to be very very patient. When you are dependent on someone else, you need to wait until it fits into what they are doing. I spent years waiting on the needs of others so I really do feel I understand.
     
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  17. Screwloose

    Screwloose

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    I used to feel indestructible, had no fear of heights, machines, fire, high voltage etc.
    Now I seem to relate more to Humpty Dumpty.
     
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  18. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    Our mission from Tennyson often repeated while working at Outward Bound post service. It stays with you....

    Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
    We are not now that strength which in old days
    Mov’d earth and heaven, that which we are, we are:
    One equal temper of heroic hearts,
    Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
    To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
    ― Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses
     
  19. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    Thought that a little culture wood be good for the chainsawing. :stack::saw::saw::MM::MM: