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Who are the extremes? What motivates those who love risk, appreciate the thrill and endlessly test themselves for strength? Do they have common features?
Obviously, some of us need a lot more emotional excitement from life, and in order to get their dose, they find themselves indulging in risky hobbies. It is known that an important role in the pursuit of risk is played by the characteristics of chemical processes in the brain. Scientists believe that many fans of extreme activities have common features – optimism, energy, originality, self-confidence and a desire to control their own destiny.
Pass the tests
- Do you love to play with fire?
“Thrill seekers are people who seek intense new experiences without considering the physical, social, legal, and financial risks,” says clinical psychologist Melanie Schlatter. “People involved in extreme sports are not really impulsive risk-takers, rather, they seek a sense of control. For example, to climb a steep slope with a glacier, people are meticulous in their choice of equipment, they seek to avoid risk, they need calmness in the face of danger and threat to life.” She emphasizes that thrill-seekers often see fear as something positive.
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British business instructor Adrian Hayes has climbed Mount Everest, made expeditions to the North and South Poles, crossed Greenland on skis on a kite, and the Arabian Desert on a camel. His achievements have been included in the Guinness Book twice.
He admits that when he has to pull a sled through an icy gorge for two months for 15 hours a day, he does not feel the adrenaline rush, and yet he became addicted to the feelings he experiences when he reaches the goal. Since the age of 17, when Adrian Hayes began climbing, his driving motive is the goal, while he does not consider himself fearless. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to face it,” he says. “My motivation is the love of physical activity and the desire to go to the uninhabited corners of the Earth from our chaotic world, overflowing with information.”
He believes that there is a big difference between calculated and reckless risk, and emphasizes that some sports, including extreme mountaineering, are unacceptable to him.
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In recent years, extreme sports have moved beyond the search for personal pleasure and have become a tool for drawing attention to social problems. For charitable foundation founder Maria Conceicao, going extreme was a surprise, a spur of the moment action to draw attention to her organization that educates underprivileged children in Bangladesh.
“Many extreme people today are doing this for a noble cause, but the problem is that the extremeness of hobbies is growing, and it is very difficult to attract attention,” she says. “I saw on the news that a man had made it to the North Pole, and it got a lot of attention, and I thought, why not give it a try?”
She admits that it is not easy for her, but she is determined to see it through to the end. “The training was very serious. They came as a shock to me because I never liked sports. But for my foundation it was a great success, and I began to look for new tasks. I risked my life several times, for example, when climbing Everest, but my determination is so great that it is unlikely that anything can stop me.
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In addition to the North Pole expedition, since 2010 Maria Concesaio has run seven super marathons in seven countries in six weeks and seven marathons on seven continents in 11 days. Her achievements fell into the Guinness Book three times.
Scientists note that extreme people, who are given to experience extreme emotional ups and downs, are also prone to very strong emotional downturns. “When the goal is reached, there can be a difficult period of recession,” says Maria Concesaio. “Extremals who have coped with a difficult task often have depression.” Research by Eric Brymer and Lindsay Oades found that extreme sports enthusiasts tend to view their experience as a personal transformation that can become permanent.
This is confirmed by Eva Clarke, a 36-year-old mother of three, a fitness instructor at New York University Abu Dhabi. She got into the Guinness Book seven times, including the fact that she made 12 jumps from a lying position in a day and did 003 push-ups on her fists in an hour. “I don’t lose motivation because fitness and movement have become a part of my life, and if I don’t do anything, I feel like something is wrong with me,” she says. “A strong psyche was formed in me because of a difficult childhood, but I went through it and now I consider it my mission to complete any task that I set for myself.”
Melanie Schlatter notes that, despite a large number of studies, it is difficult to draw a general conclusion about the individual characteristics of the extreme. However, it is safe to say that there will always be people striving to reach the limit of human capabilities, and mere mortals will always follow their achievements with interest.
See more at editions of The National.