Do It Now! Quick!

I am impulsive. Go home there's nothing to see here. We're closed for the day.

You can thank the green part for all your impulsive fails.

Not good enough? Fine, let's talk about what it means to be impulsive and why someone might be be driven to do things without thinking about them. I thought this topic was going to be pretty straight forward. An open and shut case of, you're impulsive because you're not very smart, end of story. Turns out impulsivity is a very real neurological topic that many scientists have taken their time out to understand (how kind of them)

The story is that impulsive people tend to be ADHD, bipolar or have substance abuse problems. I don't have any of those chronically although I'm sure we all have them in varying degrees. The function of being impulsive in normal behavior is as a survival method. You're standing in front of a pool. It looks freezing and jumping in will help you escape the heat of the day. If you stop to think about how cold it might be or how deep the water is; getting in becomes a lot more difficult than say just jumping in impulsively. Maybe not the best example, but you get what I'm saying.

Oh hypothermia, what fun!

Impulsive behavior can be split into five categories. Positive Urgency; you're feeling good about yourself so you buy that awesome cellphone (except you already have one). Negative Urgency; someone you care about seems down so you rush to save them only to find they not down and you hurt yourself more. Lack of Premeditation; you jump into a rock pool without checking how deep it is and break every bone in your leg...genius. Lack of Perseverance; you decide you're going to start doing gym, but two days later you stop. Sensation-Seeking; you're a bugchaser and you're GOING to die a horrible death. I'm sure breaking it down like this has made it easier for you to identify because I'm sure we've all done impulsive things.

Be sure that you will still make impulsive actions, good or bad. Go with it, if the consequences bite you then deal with it because that's who you are. We are the sum of our actions. As long as we're sincere about our goals, taking stupid actions only adds to our sincere nature. The people who can't forgive us aren't worth it.

Eye Contact, Not Eye Contacts

Two guys about to get into a scrap, a pair of strangers across a room, a victim praying for mercy from their perpetrator; all of these situations reach a certain apex when it happens: eye contact. What is it about the human condition that makes eye contact so powerful. We can all argue that a tight...whatever you prefer being tight, on a person can attract us to them, but when we make eye contact things reach a whole new level.

In some ways I could be overstating the power of eye contact, but I have come to realize firsthand that no one can ignore you if you hold their gaze. If you need to break a language barrier, make eye contact and the receiver will listen to you regardless of whether they understand you or not (the language thing is your problem though). In my work I have to talk to a lot of strangers, strange being the operative idea here. At first it was frustrating because they wouldn't listen and put themselves and others in danger. After a while though I noticed that forcing eye contact with them before explaining the situation would really get their attention and most times they would listen to me.

The flip side is that sometimes making eye contact is the worst possible thing you could do. If the person is already aggressive making eye contact with them will make you their new target of aggression; like a game of "Tag, You're Dead". It's impossible to know with some people what they are feeling inside, so eye contact is a bit like Russian Roulette, you just have to hope they're not loaded.


Learning to make eye contact can be intimidating, but it's, for good or bad, an effective way to get noticed. People respond to you, remember you and a connection is made. Just a word of warning though, don't make eye contact for too long, it just might make you seem over-confident and slightly creepy.


Talk about creepy, I share this with you.

PS: Apologies if I miss a day or two, I'll make it up to you guys. :)

A Pointlessly Honest Approach

Gather round boys and girls, I'm about to tell you a story about inhibitions lost. If there are any amount of typos in today's blog it's probably because I'm fighting back an amount of...well looseness if you know what I mean. Tonight I had maybe one to many or indeed just enough.

See tonight, after work, I went out and I had a good time. I drank without worry about being the sober one. I spoke my mind like there was no tomorrow (which unfortunately there is and it has a 5am calltime). I went out to drown my sorrows and realized in the depths of sorrow that there wasn't much sorrow there at all. Of course right now there is an area in my life a part of me wishes it still had, but on the whole I'm having this certain level of freedom that feels like I've broken out of Arrested Development.

Up to this point in my life I was lacking in the practical things in life. I was not utilizing my potential in my career, passion and ambition in work. If I felt down in that area, I always had the crutch (the so called love of my life) to catch me. Turns out that's not really a good place to be. When I lost that crutch it became a case of sink or swim. It just so happens I'm swimming! Sure I wish I had that crutch and a large portion of me wishes to be held and loved like before, but for better or worse that crutch is gone for good and so be it.

I'm discovering myself all over again, what I like, who I am and why I have so much to give. Being dependent on someone can be a wonderful experience if that person believes in you, but if that person drops you like a bad habit and you don't believe in yourself...then you're pretty much done for. I felt that way for awhile, but I know now that I am worth more. I have a lot to offer and I am going to be happy by myself. I don't deserve to be beaten down and I will find myself and someone who loves me for all I am.

Be privileged, this is as drunk as blogs get and as honest as a person can be. I don't know exactly who I am at this point in time, but I'm looking forward to finding out. It's NOW that this blog will get interesting and I will dissect my own character to discover what I'm capable of and I thank you for sharing this most personal moments with me.

PS: Canada, I love you. :)