The Human Nervous System: Is it a Bear or a Tree Stump?

The feeling of dread in your stomach.  The sweaty hands.  What does it mean and why does it happen?

The human body has two systems that regulate a whole lot of important things.  They are the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system is in charge of preparing your body for stress and maximum efficiency.  Say for example, you walk in a forest and suddenly a bear jumps out in front of you.  Your pupils dilate and your heart rate increases, along with your blood pressure.  Also, your lungs expand and blood is diverted from your skin and digestive organs to the brain and skeletal muscles.  All this is in order to prepare you for either the fight or flight reaction.

The parasympathetic nervous system calms you down again.  When the bear in the forest turns out to be a tree stump, you relax and your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in.  Your pupils limit the amount of light coming in and your heart rate and blood pressure returns to normal.  Your muscles relax and the blood flow is returned to its previous setup.

These two systems basically work together to ensure that your body is regulated optimally so that you are ready for whatever you are facing, whether it be a bear or a tree stump.

To ensure that you remain safe, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in even before you’re sure of what you’re facing, just in case.  You see a dark shape looming in front of you and your mind automatically calls down a memory of what a bear might look like and your sympathetic nervous system reacts accordingly, so that you might be ready.

The downside in all this is that the body often overreacts, specifically in this age, where the most danger one faces is cutting one’s hand on paper.  Even though we live in relatively safe environments (in contrast to our ancestors) our bodies still react as though we’re in constant danger.

Because of this, every new thing we face, be it a tree stump or a publishing deal, will send our bodies into overdrive, preparing to fight for survival.  This pushes many people to stay in their safe environments, never trying anything new.  They trust their bodies to tell them what is dangerous, while the sympathetic nervous system is still living in the Stone Age, unable to see when we’re not in danger.

While your body can prepare you for danger, it can also lead you into a life of no growth.  Think before you listen to your sympathetic nervous system.  Don’t just run.

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A Leap of Faith

From when I was very little, I was protected from – or rather, deprived of – risk. Everything was dangerous and I was quickly scolded or stopped when I attempted something dangerous like doing a cartwheel. I was even steered clear of washing dishes until I was much older (Not that I complained).

All this built up the ruler which I live(d) life with. In an almost doctrine sort of way, I avoided most things that could lead to any sort of trouble or bad ending, resulting in many missed opportunities.

This was applicable to me up until a few years ago when I discovered that you can't go through life without taking risks – unless you live in a steel box wherein you grow your own food (And even that isn't foolproof).

But, even with my newly discovered epiphany, I was still mentally ingrained to avoid risk. So I started a plan to try and take one risk – no matter how small – every day.

Okay, enough soppy life stories and useless self-improvement advice. What the hell does this have to do with writing?

Well, besides a background story for a quirky character (don't say I never did anything for you), a whole lot, in fact.

Writing is all about taking risks. If you don't take risks, you'll end up unpublished. Let me explain.

Success comes with trying something new. And trying something new means putting your idea out there for people to reject or hopefully accept. Isaac Asimov deviated from the normal, as he calls it, “Frankenstein complex” robot stories of his time (stemming originally from Faust) and put his idea out there. What if the robot didn't turn on its maker in the end? What if robots were just servants? And from there sprang the three laws of robotics which basically defines robot stories these days.

Then again, you don't have to try something so radical to get published, but you still have to risk something. When you give your story – your soul on a page – to an agent or publisher, you risk rejection and the feeling of failure.

Risks are only stepping stones to success. You have to take risks in order to hit it big.

If you are, however, riskophobic (there's probably an actual word for it, but I'm too lazy to find it) like me, you should start small. If you're in the shower and you start thinking about what would happen if your protagonist's house blew up before he got home, don't simply dismiss the idea because you think it could be bad. Try it out. Same goes for if a character starts acting differently. Don't push him or her back in line. Try out the water, take a leap of faith. Though it will feel like you're taking a risk, you're really not. You can always just double back and try another route.

Make the jump, even if you think you might not make it. Your writing will thank you for it when you do.

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