Hacker News Reader

Comment by marknutter | Hacker News Reader

I would be careful. I got into extreme sports (motorcycle road racing) when stress became overwhelming for me and it turned out to be a manifestation of my BPD. It was therapeutic for the reasons you give, but also because I had a death wish.

As a result, I came very close to dying or permanently injuring myself on a couple different occasions – and I am the sole provider for my family with a one and four year old.

If engaging in risky or dangerous activities makes you feel normal or alive, you should probably take that as a warning and maybe get checked out. Can't hurt, anyways.

View on HN

Thank you for the friendly warning.

Yes, it did start as a reckless "last thing I want to do before I die" depression kind of thing while I was a teenager.

Fortunately for me, all the physical effort/socializing/amazing scenery/nature changed my perspective 180° and now I'm a happy camper.

People that knew me before actually commented on how responsible/cautious I've now become with all my hobbies, some even call me grandpa :)

I probably won't be able to do all my hobbies forever, I feel that my reflexes are not what they were, but I'm compensating with experience.

Life is beautiful, I want to experience it as much as possible.

That's great to hear. Gives me hope for myself.

Feel free to email me if you need someone to talk to.

"It was therapeutic for the reasons you give, but also because I had a death wish."

This is a problem. High sensation seeker, (dopamine seeker) with low perception of risk. Understanding risk is a skill. You can improve it through training and applying conscious decision making. Risk management is trying to mitigate the "unknown, unknowns." If you do not understand the risks, you cannot avoid the pitfalls until it stares you in the face.

Risk is also relative. Stand on the side of a busy road you are (mostly) safe. Walk out onto a busy road you are not. It's that stark.

It was very interesting to get into motorcycle racing, which is primarily an exercise in gauging risk. The more risk you're willing to take, the faster you go. But the less experience you have, the more often you will end up crashing. So I found myself doing very well as a novice racer, but I also crashed or had near crashes much more often.

"It was very interesting to get into motorcycle racing, which is primarily an exercise in gauging risk."

Mark you are really out there :)

That's funny, I thought the same about skiing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com