Another couple longish paddles done, 30 and 35 km, a day apart and notable only because of two things: (a) on the second paddle we found the Batemans Bay Wave Rider buoy - which is a strangely fun activity if you have paddled everywhere very recently and are just putting in distance; and (b) the dripping humidity on both days which made me feel like a heavy puddle of sweat moving at a snails pace. I was a heavy paddle of sweat but tracking indicates I was cruising around my usual speed.
I have been thinking a lot about Tall Poppy Syndrome recently. Not a thing I ever heard of in Canada, but apparently a common cultural response in Australia (maybe New Zealand as well?). I am beginning to think I understand Tall Poppy Syndrome as a symbolic representation or narrative story of a cluster of behaviours we may encounter. Of course, none of these symbolic representations/stories we tell ourselves can ever be “proven,”1 they merely help us understand the world around us with the very important caveat that no one story explains everything.
Tall Poppy Syndrome could be a real “thing” in Australia. If you are the Tall Poppy, I don’t know that there is much you can do about it. Pretending to be less than you are may make the poppy cutters feel better but actually benefits no-one except the insecure folks who want to lop Tall Poppies down. At some level, even the zero-sum gain crowd probably have to (grudgingly) admit that Tall Poppies make the world a better place.
If, however, you are the poppy lopper (could this be a new meme, it is actually pretty good?), unconsciously seeing the world as a zero-sum gain equation, with some dread insecurities you cannot face, perhaps having difficulty admitting that you could actually try harder, I think that engaging with the Tall Poppy would make your life so much better than the transitory thrill/ego boost you get from lopping down the Tall Poppy.
Tall Poppies aren’t really that different to other people except in some characteristics which, with sufficient motivation, we could all get a little better at and stretch ourselves in the process. Sure, most of us may never have the height and athletic ability of Michael Jordan and become one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but we could learn much about the characteristics it takes to excel. Among those characteristics would be things like grit, resilience, deliberative practice, intrinsic motivation, persistence, appropriate and accurate assessment, realism, and independence of thought. Growing up into a Tall Poppy is surely preferable to lopping Tall Poppies down to size.
Finally, I am going to add a couple of new bullet points to select blog posts highlighting what I’ve been listening to and reading. If you want to stretch into mild eccentricity, you might enjoy these too.
Dave Macleod on The Adventure Podcast. Not one of my favourite podcasts as the host is a bit too serious for me, but Dave Macleod is a Tall Poppy, an individualist, and all round interesting guy.
Food Junkies Podcast. I got onto this podcast as they interviewed Ted Naiman, coauthor of The P:E Diet Book, an agonistic tomb about health, nutrition, longevity. Don’t be put off by the ripped shirtless dudes pictured on the website. The P:E Diet is accessible to everyone but will challenge conventional nutritionists and thinkers. I’ve only listened to a couple of episodes of Food Junkies, but I would say these hosts are going where few have bravely gone before, generally to a chorus of derision, although their central thesis: modern food is designed to be addictive is a truism we ignore at our peril.
The Big Five Personality Traits as I wonder whether these have efficacy in explaining Tall Poppy Syndrome.
Test yourself on the Big Five Traits.
1Fun fact, science never proves anything, merely supports or discredits a hypothesis until a different one comes along, a concept not recognised by either the masses or the mainstream media, or our politicians apparently, but which goes a long way towards explaining the current madness.
