Jane Goodall made an interesting observation about the chimpanzees she studied: she found that nearly 50% of the fatalities she observed were due to infants falling to the ground as the mothers they were clinging to moved through the trees. This was one of the bases of C Owen Lovejoy’s interesting (and largely unknown today in popular Paleoanthropology) theory that bipedality in the human lineage evolved primarily because it greatly reduced this source of mortality.
“Even if a samurai’s head were to be suddenly cut off, he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty. If one becomes like a revengeful ghost and shows great determination, though his head is cut off, he should not die.” - Yamamoto Tsunetomo
This reminds me of how we used to think bats had this mysterious ability to never collide with another bat even when they swarm. But then we found out they collided all the time, we just couldn’t perceive it with our eyes.
They do the thing where you move to the side to let a person pass but they also do it so you end up blocking each other and you repeat it 3 times before you get it right
I had a squirrel once fall out of a tree and land right in front of me with a nice loud thump. He was stunned for a couple of seconds and then staggered slowly back over to the tree trunk and climbed back up it. Really changed my perspective on squirrels.
I have always had low self-esteem and an extreme fear of failure. That has always fueled an almost panicked urge to try as hard as possible because “even my best is likely not good enough”. I have done well for myself but I also have chronic insomnia, very high hypertension, and needed emergency quad stents installed at the age of 44 (should have been a triple bypass but my surgeon was a hot shot).
In other words, it is probably healthier to channel your inner slacker. “Whatever.”
As someone who has battled low self-esteem most of my life, I hope you’re able to get there and love yourself. It’s pretty rough, but I believe in you.
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