Thanks for the words of wisdom Ed. Could you please share some pressure situations you've overcome and the method you use?

Thanks Dom!

See, that was from a guy with an education. Me, not much of an education to speak of, I come from the school of hard knocks. I wish I was more eloquent but I was raised on the streets. Some people get put off and are offended by my aggressiveness but I can only speak from what I've gone through and learned along the way.

But yes, when pressure comes toward me, I have a big chip on my shoulder.


And like the great football legend, Keyshawn Johnson said Just gimme the darn ball!


because we are the CHAMPIONS my friend, and we'll keep on fighting till the end!


Never give up!

The pressure situations I have faced recently are very personal and involve family, friends, hard choices and my future. This is not the pressure of merely blowing a performance - this is the pressure of making a single choice that can and will affect the future options I have available in relationships and being able to provide for my family.

And here there is the unfortunate truth that what is pressure to one is not pressure to another - for example, to a man with no wife or no kids, certain choices have no pressure; to a man with a family totally dependant on him, these same issues will cause pressures that no one else can see or understand to build to the breaking point.

My "method"?? There is no "method" beyond surrounding myself with an atmosphere where I can never lose my worth or value and with people who will never take it away from me. In that atmosphere, I can never lose, even if I fail most miserably. I reject a performance-based system of assigning worth and value to any person, whether applied by me to you or by you to me. Neither opinion nor failure - mine or another's - can take away what I have or who I am, and even great success can't add to it. Living here, I am truly invincible where it matters, and I am learning to ignore what doesn't matter because it can't hurt me anyway.

And that's how I "deal with pressure."

Ed

Excellent Ed, Thanks!

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Litany against fear from Frank Herbert's Dune.

I wish I was smart, so I could express myself with beautiful stuff like that!

Thanks!

Fear can teach us a lot.
Where it leads us can tell a lot about us.

F.E.A.R.
"Frustrated about Everything and Run"
"Future Events Appearing Real"
"Face Everything And Respond"

"Theres no need to fear..."(Underdog)

Let me tell you all a story which happened when I was at Basic Enlisted Submarine School (BESS) at Groton, Connecticutt in 1980. First of all the Submarine Service is an all volunteer service. There is no other way to enter. There is a battery of tests to see if you qualify for this Elite branch of the Navy. One of the tests consisted of an actual escape from a submerged compartment 110 ft deep. The Escape Tower was the final test before you graduated from BESS. The tower loomed at lower base and could be seen just about everwhere.

The rumors abounded while attending the school...this was where the boys were separated from the men. The escape trunk is your only salvation when a submarine is damaged and cannot resurface. You basically escape at whatever depth the boat is at with only an inflated vest/hood (Steinke Hood).

The day came for the Escape Tower Test. It is a cylindrical tower (about 130' tall) that houses 110' of water and you enter the escape trunk at ground level. There is room for a half dozen personnel to sit. The hatch is secured and the pressurization begins. The compartment is pressurized to the same level that is the same at 110' in depth. A funny thing happens when you experience this pressure...you sound like Mickey Mouse when you speak and the temperature increases. If you experience any discomfort, (eardrums rupturing, paranoia, nosebleed etc.) the process is stopped and you are removed immediately. Sayonara!

After reaching the required pressure, the hatch is opened (much to your horror) and let me tell you it is a strange occurance that since the compartment is pressurized to the same level at 110' no water rushes in! You have achieved pressure equalization. There is a door of water staring at you! Face your fear, there's no turning back! Gulp!

You don the escape hood after a shot of air inflates it and you're off on your way to the surface yelling "Ho Ho Ho Ho" the whole way up to the surface! What an adrenaline rush! The "Ho HO Ho" is to keep you from holding your breath and suffering the bends and it keeps your lungs form exploding. (very important and we had several dry runs in class practicing this).

This is overcoming fear when confronted with a "do it or die" mentality. It's surface bound if you fail this, and that is like being sent to Siberia to a bubblehead.

Needless to say, after I safely shot to the surface I wanted to do it again!!
What a rush!

I spent 6 yrs in the service as a bubblehead and was proud and lucky that the need to escape was never required...but it came close on one patrol. (that's another story). Stepping on board a Submarine was flirting with the fact that this patraol could be your last! Meh!

Cardamagically,
Dom.
:)

Yo Dom, good story!

My best friend Darren, went to sub school in Groton 3 years before you got there. I remember driving him there when he was allowed to come home for weekends. I remember him telling me that story, too.

I joined a year after he did, not sub service though. I was a surface sailor, BM3.

So, do you have your "Dolphin" pin?

Yep...16JUN83 I qualified on USS SNOOK SSN592. RM2(SS).

Cardamagically,
Dom.
:)

I've made my share of cracks about being in the "better half" of the Dept of Navy - the Marines. ("Squids are the lowest form of Marine life" and all of that stuff!) Honestly, though, I never had to experience that rough of a military life.

My biggest "fear point" in the military came in boot camp. Our series of four platoon was the first to fight with pugel sticks on the Bridge Over Troubled Waters - a rubber bridge 3 foot wide over a pit of water. Two recruits met in the middle - with a DI at either end! - and only one walked off.

With about 75 guys to a platoon, and almost all of them from the hoods of LA, this skinny little boy from rural upper SoCal felt quite intimidated! I remember the guys in my platoon gathered around me when I was handed the soaking wet pugel stick, pumping me up until I was ready to pull the short hairs on King Kong!

I shuffled out onto the bride yelling my defiance. A hard shot to the helmet brought me to my knees, and he sort of swept me off into the water.

So much _my_ Marine macho!! 8>) Hats off to those with *real* service!!

Ed

Yeah, but Ed, you DID IT. You went out there and faced the challenge, and that's the most important part. Winning and losing are secondary. You already won just by not backing down and running from the pressure!

I have failed many more times than I've succeeded. I'm not afraid of missing the shot; all I want is the chance to take it.

I've been knocked down but I get up again, no ones gonna keep me down, I get knocked down...



But please remember...the marines would be stuck on a beach if it were not for hitching rides on the Navy ships!