#89 Prepared VS Paranoid & Focus

The Focus Cast

Is the world ending?

This isn’t a fear porn podcast, here a list of times the “world was ending” yet here we are. Humans are like roaches and can survive in a multitude of situations and events.

LIST OF TIMES THE WORLD WAS ENDING:

• Tambora Eruption (1815): The eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia caused the "Year Without a Summer" in 1816, resulting in crop failures, food shortages, and extreme weather worldwide. Estimated 11k deaths from blast and 100k deaths from food shortages
• People thought the world would end when the Mayan calendar "ended" on December 21, 2012.
• Y2K
• Some worried that the Large Hadron Collider could create a black hole that would destroy the world when it opened in 2008
• Black plague
• World Wars, 911, nuclear plant explosions.

So what the fuck are we actually preparing for?

• Disruptions in supply chains, pandemics, civil unrest, economic downturns, layoffs. Shit happens and now we’ve seen it

Making rational decision when living in fear.

• Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of personality and social psychology, 81(1), 146-159.

1. This study explores how different emotions, including fear, can influence risk perception and decision-making. It suggests that fear may lead to a heightened sensitivity to potential risks.

• Amygdala hijack: This odd-sounding name is not a medical diagnosis, but rather, a term for times when the amygdala is overwhelmed by stress and takes over the brain's response to the situation. Remember that a major function of the amygdala is to process fear and anxiety. When the amygdala “hijacks” the brain, the frontal lobes (the logic centers) are unable to override it with a rational response. (WebMD)