Head For The Hills - Killer Storm Coming!

Posted on 15 April 2007

I was in the gym earlier on today when my Ipod froze on me. I had a go at toggling it in to action with no luck so instead plugged my headphones into the jack on the machine and settled for watching TV on one of the big screens.

We have had some pretty rough weather here the last 18 hours or so with heavy rain and high winds but nothing as bad as the Carolinas and States north east of there. As I was watching the coverage the anchor women on a well-known news channel suddenly announced that as a women had died as a result of the storm in North Carolina they could now officially say it was a killer storm! Great I thought, just what we need, more cranking up of the fear meter by national news stations.

Now I don’t doubt that technically speaking it was indeed a killer storm but who or what benefits from such emotive language and what is the pay off they are looking for by trying to make people fearful? I guess when it comes to TV a lead story about a killer storm is more likely to get people tuning in and thus generate increased advertising revenue, but is it really necessary?

The language we use has such a profound effect on the way we move through life that I am frequently surprised by the constant misuse of it in a way that only ever serves to make us feel worse. I have a family member (and I suspect most of us have one like this) that never seems to get headaches, only blinding headaches and is never simply sick but always violently sick and cannot wait to tell anybody that wants to listen. It’s the same when we talk about some minor inconvenience being a nightmare or when some trivial event goes wrong it is a disaster or even worse a catastrophe. Seldom do these events warrant the language we assign to them but it seems like there is some internal desire to make things seem worse than reality would suggest they are. Almost as if we need to prove to the world that we are worse of than the next person and we probably even deserve a medal for soldiering on under such atrocious circumstances. What strange creatures we are to put ourselves through misery when it simply is not necessary.

Of course the net result of all this is that eventually we lose the ability to judge the importance of issues accurately and life turns into one big melodrama as we strive to out do other family members and friends in the “I’m worse off than you” stakes.

Fortunately there is an alternative for all this angst and torment and even better than that, it’s free! Start by observing your language and noticing whether you are one of the many that does exaggerate situations either for the better or worse. Be honest with yourself and if necessary ask other people that are close to you what they think. Then simply start playing about with words. If you get stuck in traffic tell yourself that it’s a minor irritation and at least it will give you time to reflect on the day. That long meeting did not bore you to tears it simply dragged a bit longer than expected but there was some good stuff in there. Make sure that cold is not as bad as it could be when talking to others and when people ask how are you? Try answering with euphoric or amazing or even stunningly brilliant. Trust me, the latter will often get people smiling and asking you what is so great with your life?

Even if you feel like this is all fake, so what? Do it for 4 weeks and life will seem easier, you will feel better and you’ll probably be a whole lot more fun to be around.

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