A blog post by Christa ¹ reminded me of some changes I’ve noticed as I grew older.
I don’t experience pain when I hear or see it, but I’m now in my thirties and I have to carefully filter what I listen to. I think I need to do that because we don’t have the TV connected to the networks, and I don’t read a daily newspaper. Perhaps this prevents the typical emotional carapace from growing too strong. So when I see plastic surgery on a TV in a shopping center, or if I see people die on the news as I sit in a coffee shop, or if Claudia tells me about the psychopath stories she had to type, I feel my brain shut down. I have to switch places, move out of the room, or interrupt the conversation. At first my stomach starts contracting. It feels like my balls are trying to crawl up into my tummy and cold sweat starts dripping down my sides.
Looking back, the first strong such reaction I remember having was when I saw Gladiator (2000). When I left the movies, I felt as if I had shrunk by three or four inches.
#Life
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Alex...this is all based on emotion...I’ve had it explained to me today and I will write another post about it. In my case, since I have a pain disorder that is based on a screwed up nervous system, impressions of all kinds that upsets me will make the pain flare up badly. Then it depends on what by nature upsets us, of course. In my case it’s kids and animals that hurts or are injured.
What you’re describing might be connected to age since we all get more receptive when we get older. Sometimes it also triggers helplessness to see or hear someone in pain, so it’s all connected.
I will write more about this in my blog today.
– Christa 2007-05-05 12:00 UTC