What’s Your Instinct?

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March 21, 2013 by little hurdles big race

I once heard that the reason dogs turn in a circle before they go to sleep is from when they were wild and had to break down the tall grass to make a bed.  It is so ingrained in their behavior that they still do it to this day – even with the comfy dog beds we buy them.

I’ve always been fascinated with instinct and I often wonder what we, as humans, do for no apparent reason other than it’s what we’ve always done.

I was at a charity event the other night talking to a friend/co-worker about our histories with food and bad habits.  She, like me, was raised in a house with no brothers.  It’s taken the both of us years to realize – you can’t eat like dad.  Once more it’s taken me years to realize that not everyone can eat the same.  I know we all have those friends/relatives that can eat anything they want and barely exercise.  That’s life – you can’t, I can’t.   Because I have always been self-conscious of what I was eating and how that was perceived I became a food hoarder.  Not eating the right food made me always hungry.  As a teen I was lucky enough to be very involved in sports.  Sports that required a lot of training and running – so who cares what I ate?  Well, the problem became that I didn’t know how to eat what was right for me.  What was really hilarious is we were sharing while local restaurants served soup to raise money to stop hunger 🙂

So what’s my learned habit?  Because of my fear of being perceived as someone with a problem or my fear of being made fun of – I will never ever be the first in line to get food.  I’d starve to death before I was the first at the buffet line.  Even funnier – when I shared this my friend said, “You know what?  I’ve noticed that about you”.  Oh well, so much for staying under the radar.  HA HA!

Being the last in line isn’t really a problem until you realize that you are letting an irrational fear control you.  Who really cares who is first or who is last – the problem is that you even have a thought process about it. Being afraid of something gives it power.

You need the power.  You have the power.