musing Archives - Lemon's Logic

Anticipatory Pain: Worse than Reality?

By Jonathan Lemon | May 22, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Jonathan Lemon’s Unrealistic Quest to Run Faster has me noticing I have a strong aversion to running intervals. Intervals are short bursts of near-max effort, followed by bursts of average effort. Sometimes I’ll totally bail out and do some other exercise instead. Yet when I do the intervals, the pain is never as bad as I imagined.

My experience left me wondering whether imagined pain is worse than actual pain. Do my thoughts increase the pain I experience?

Turns out the answer is yes. Anticipatory pain can be worse than physical pain.

Anticipation produces dread. Dread adds a layer of pain over physical pain. You can read about a research study here.

A quote by Dr. Giles Story, the study’s lead researcher, describes my interval problem: “We believe people often procrastinate in the hope that maybe painful events will just go away altogether. But if an event is inevitable, the pattern of wanting to get it over with seems to hold.”

Procrastinating works because I’m in control of whether I run or not. It gives my brain time to convince me NOT to run intervals and do something else.

Anticipatory pain manifests itself in other areas as well. Another study shows the dread-pain relationship in students anticipating math tests.

The research clearly shows it’s not my fault for not running intervals. It’s my brain’s fault and there is nothing I can do about this. Well, I wish anyways.

Positive self-talk, relaxation, and meditation decrease anticipatory pain. Mandating a task and eliminating discretion works as well, as described in the quote.

Runners know that running can be as much a mental challenge as physical. The mind has many tricks up its sleeve, and it doesn’t even have sleeves. That’s how tricky it is.

I’ll need to devise some strategies to get me over the interval hump. If all else fails, I have one idea.

Nickname: Thoughts on Giving and Receiving

By Jonathan Lemon | May 10, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Nicknames are interesting. Fun stories usually spawn them, and it’s eminently easier for me to retain nicknames than real names. I’m not sure I’ve forgotten someone’s nickname upon first hearing it, but I’ve done that for first names despite my best efforts.

But can someone give themselves a nickname?

I’ve had several nicknames. John-o-fish was my nickname in 6th Grade. My classmate told me I looked like a fish.

A teacher nicknamed me Lemon Tree in high school. I reminded him of a song by Peter, Paul, and Mary I guess. Led Zeppelin sang the Lemon Song but I wasn’t bad enough to get that nickname.

I worked at an accounting firm with a woman who was an international transfer from China. She called me Lemon and never made any reference to my first name. I believe she thought I only had 1 name, like Adele. Any communication, spoken or written, would begin, “Hello Lemon…”

Johnny Limón was another nickname bestowed upon me at a (different) old job. Not sure where that came from. Maybe I look Latino? I’d be an albino Latino. Or as they say in Spanish, albino.

Can people give themselves nicknames? Conventional wisdom says no, but I’ve done it. Does that mean I’m the exception that proves the rule? I’m not really sure what that phrase means so I can’t say one way or the other.

I once christened myself Johnny Roboto among a group of friends. I’d like to say it’s because I have forged steel abs, but it was actually a reference to my monotone voice and inscrutable face.

Was that a one-time event or might I finagle another auto-nickname? I might as well try or be faced with another question that can’t be answered.

Possibly something like The Professor. The correlations are obvious: I’m a nerd who reads a lot, has glasses, a white board, and no voice inflection. I don’t have a tweed jacket but there’s a Goodwill close by. And the name is vaguely mysterious. If you know I’m The Professor, the mind automatically asks “of what?” I like that.

The name is also a hat tip to Neil Peart, widely regarded as one of the best drummers ever. Perhaps establishing a psychic connection with him will imbue me with some of his greatness! Can’t hurt to try. I might end up Canadian but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.