Saturday, August 26, 2017
Se-lu 7, me-lu edition 2
Lately I've been "listening" to the Broadcastify stream of EMS and police calls. More interesting than music, more genuine than any of the scripted fake news or fake talk shows.
There's a clear circadian pattern in the calls. At this time of day (3AM) most of the action is real police work caused by alcohol. Bar fights, domestics, DUI crashes. Nearer midday, most of the action is hypochondria. "Unknown sickness" or "chest pains" or "abdominal pains".
Why do I say hypochondria with such certainty? Real pains happen at all times of day or night. Hypochondria happens when you've been awake and simmering in your own problem-soup for a while.
I made a couple of those hypochondriac calls back in the '90s. "Heart attacks" that turned out to be panic attacks. After the second one I realized that the EMS stuff was HUGELY expensive and inconvenient and embarrassing, so I decided to stop having panic attacks.
The process of stopping required some experimentation. It's not just a cognitive decision; there's a "muscular" action inside the skull, like releasing a spasm or cramp. I don't know which muscles are involved. Maybe artery constrictors, maybe something unfamiliar to existing anatomy. After you get the knack, it's easy.
Se-lu. Loosen yourself, solve the problem.
Labels: se-lu
¶ 3:16 AM
