Author: Guest

Thrill Seekers

Guest

junkie for adrenalineThere are some people who are born to gravitate toward caution and a steady pace. And then there are those who are born to seek thrills. Thrill seekers are a very unique type of person. They are the kind who take on hobbies and personal interests that the rest of us struggle to comprehend, such as sky diving, tight rope walking and mountain face climbing. This type of person feels most alive when they are pushing the boundaries of their bravery and safety. They like to live on the edge and challenge themselves to stare their mortality in the face.

Thrill seekers are also known as adrenaline junkies. The activities they engage in range in difficulty and safety, but they are always high adrenaline. To most people, these activities would be stressful and overstimulating, but to thrill seekers, they are their life blood. This behavior begins for them when they are just children. As they begin to experiment with daredevil acts and earn gasps and praise from their peers, daring acts become rewarding to them and begin to factor into their sense of identity. As they age, their hunger for adrenaline ages as well and grows stronger. They desire to continuously out-do themselves and exceed their last thrill seeking act. Age, injury and close calls with death can deter thrill seekers over time, but some persist even through these circumstances.

If you have a thrill seeker in your life who you are struggling to understand, know that you are not alone. It is a way of life that can seem highly questionable to people who cannot relate to it, especially if the person is responsible for loved ones. However, be careful not to judge too harshly. The individual’s brain is wired to feel completed by thrill seeking. It should also be considered that there is a high percentage of thrill seekers who go through life uninjured who remain strong, healthy and active into their late lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzjq3QaBCLY

What Prompts Thrill-Seeking?

Guest

thrill seeking promptWe have all heard of adrenaline junkies: the people who base jump, fly in wing suits, cliff jump, climb without ropes, deep sea dive, bungee jump and sky dive routinely. Most of us cannot understand why these people do what they do, but we cannot help but be fascinated by the way they live. We struggle to put ourselves in their shoes. No matter how hard we try, we cannot relate to the choices they make.

Most people do not realize that the same brain chemical they get from doing exciting, pleasurable things such as eating chocolate cake, going on a shopping spree or having sex is the same brain chemical that adrenaline junkies are getting by taking extreme risks. Neurologists have found that this pleasurable chemical, called dopamine, is not distributed equally among us. While most of our brains release an adequate amount of dopamine by engaging in simple pleasures, others do not generate dopamine as easily and go looking for extreme ways of achieving it.

This neurological find is being used to explain many brain types that demand extremism in order to feel happy, alive and exhilarated. It is also concluding that the quest for dopamine connects many different kinds of people, including high-functioning individuals, addicts and thrill seekers. At first glance, these personality types may not seem to bare a resemblance, but in actuality, they can be so similar that they can all be embodied in the same person.

High-functioning individuals, addicts and thrill seekers are all being motivated by the same hunger for dopamine; they are just going about achieving it in different ways. One might say the high-functioning individual is seeking dopamine in the most sustainable way: their need for risk and thrill is satisfied by meeting life challenges head on and achieving their goals. An addict is satisfying their dopamine craving through an unsustainable method: by overusing a pleasurable substance or activity to the point that it has negative effects on their life and health. And lastly, the sustainability of thrill seeking is arguable and indefinite. Some may view it as an unconscious way of bringing one’s self closer to death, while others may argue that it is a deliberate way of feeling more alive.

All we can know for sure is that everyone’s individual brain chemistry is unique, and we are most whole when we acknowledge and adhere to the natural patterns of our brains. Thrill seeking can be abused, just like anything else. It can be used as a crutch, a means of escaping reality or it can serve as a thrill-seeking addiction itself. An adrenaline junkie may even choose to receive counseling for an adrenaline addiction. But for those who are whole in what they are and moderate themselves, thrill-seeking can be a healthy means of expression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIFBc7QiaEU