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It is Friday, but work will continue into the night this week, as there is a Team social event on the agenda. Normally, these are pretty good, but I am not sure how this one will go, because technically, it is not with the team I am in, but could be a team I join in the future, depending on a few factors. I know most of the members pretty well, but their group dynamics are quite different to those of where I am now, and they are far more reserved with each other. Also, they are a bit more technically minded, so their personalities tend to lean more toward being introverted. Nothing wrong with that, until in a social group dynamic, and no one talks.

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/23xeZHWmkAcMNRZpMckWdY2fyMRBKR2Ypo5GvShLLCQeaDSQH6maMXLZWDtJSxmX9nCJ6.png)

We will have some kind of dinner together and then for something a bit different, we will watch a concert of a band that was popular with young people twenty years ago, play their hits with a symphony orchestra. I guess this is quite suitable for most of the Finnish people in the group, because they have feelings tied to the band from way back, and the orchestra makes it a more "mature" lens with which to revisit their childhood.

I was listening to a talk the other day that mentioned how genetic factors influence pretty much every trait we have and one that stuck out to me, was how enthusiastic a person might be at a concert. I am one of those "sit, watch and listen" kinds of audience members, whether it be music or sports, but I don't "get into it" like some people do. It isn't because it would embarrass me, but I just don't seem to be that big of a fan of anything. 

But it makes me wonder, is it that I am not a fanboy, or is it because in order to exhibit the same kinds of qualities, I need far more input? For instance, I don't get cold easily, so I am generally the last one to put on a jumper when it cools, but I might be feeling exactly the same as others. So, perhaps it is similar with my enthusiasm, where I need to be "cold enough" in order to act, but the threshold is too high which stops me acting. Maybe, if it pushed over that barrier, I would behave like any other fan, dancing on my seat, or screaming at the referee for a shitty call. 

I was talking to my supervisor today about something along these lines, where certain actions are invisible until they get to a specific level, and then they get seen. The example I used to explain my activities I stole from the book Atomic Habits, where they visualized an ice cube sitting on a table in a temperature a few degrees below freezing. If it gets warmer by one degree, nothing changes in the ice cube. If it gets warmer by another, nothing changes. However, once the temperature goes above freezing point even slightly, the ice cube begins to melt. Essentially, the temperate could be 100 degrees below freezing, but it isn't until that last degree that goes above, that any change is seen.

> The straw that broke the camel's back.

I guess a lot of our lives might be affected similarly, but possibly we focus on the negatives, where for instance, stress builds up to a certain point and then one more tiny hiccup arises, and we explode. If we are consistently just below freezing, every hiccup could push us to meltdown. But, if we have mechanisms in place that will lower our temperature well before getting to breaking point, it would appear that we never lose our cool, never explode. The trick is to stay refrigerated, and not let the cold air escape by leaving the door open for too long.

There are many examples to visualize this, but I think it is something that we should consider for our own mental health and development. Because if we can become aware of the mechanism in play, the triggers that raise the temperature can also be the indicators that trigger a preemptive response before our temperature gets too high and we lose control of our desired behaviors. 

I am looking forward to being out of the house and doing something interesting tonight though, because it is pretty rare that I do these kinds of things these days. I am currently hoping that it isn't an overly long night though, so I might set an alarm as a trigger to remind me when it is time to excuse myself and head home again. 

I can always ignore the trigger if I choose. 

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]



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