Going Too Far

So a new thing in the outdoor world just dropped: stress injury. Like most of the new things, stress injury can be anything and everything, which might seem like a flaw, but most certainly is a feature. The broader the definition, the more people can be caught up in the web of diagnosis, disorder, and, even disability. If you are unlucky enough to have escaped the myriad diagnoses already available: depression, social anxiety disorder, ADHD, neurodivergence; stress injury may be just the diagnosis you are looking for. After all, as the “expert” says in the podcast: “if you are impacted by stress you are injured by it.” Everyone, even the most laid back and secure individual on the planet is impacted by stress, which is absolutely brilliant business model.  

If you are unconvinced of my precis, the host of the podcast, introduces herself by saying “I actually have a stress injury from this podcast.” Cue the awkward tittering laughter from the audience as, at least some people recognise, that this is a dubious proposition. However, only a handful of the 75 audience members giggle, and, in the face of social disdain - one of the most powerful human motivators is group cohesion - the laughter quickly dies away. Perhaps, one person in the room, continues to think “this doesn’t sound right,” but, it’s likely that the prospect of being in the out-group is enough to quell any dangerous non-group think. When I heard the tittering laughter, I was reminded of the Lia Thomas affair, when the entire sporting world, told us to believe that the broad shouldered 186 cm tall, obviously male, swimmer was actually a woman and could thus compete against other women in swimming events. We may not be in a simulation, but we are certainly living through Hans Christen Anderson’s “The Emperor Has No Clothes” wherein we are asked to believe things that are patently absurd.

But such is the nature of humans, we always go too far. Whether it is psychological diagnosis or the ever expanding gender categories. What starts out reasonable quickly becomes a Medusas head that is impossible to control or tame.  This is not to say that some people are not severely affected by tragic incidents in their life.  Of course, extreme stress does produce extreme injuries, but we do a disservice to the truly suffering when we inflate discomfit with disease.  As with humans, so with nature and Australia’s typical weather. When storms come, they frequently go too far, with not just 30 or 50 mm of rain but 350 mm of rain.

The east coast of Australia is slowly emerging from another East Coast Low. As strong as a category one cyclone, was reported by the Bureau of Meteorology, but, as Australia descends deeper and deeper into a country of incapable victims, I had to wonder if this was simply more hysterical reporting to frighten an already cowed population into compliance. At the house, we got about 150 mm of rain, and it was windy, but less so than other events, and, out and about over the two or three days of the storm, I saw big seas and storm surges but, at least to my comparative eye, the wind, rain and swell were slightly less than other similar events.

The photos in this post are all taken from a walk around some local headlands. Most are from Burrewarra Point where, after years of wondering why the locals didn’t have some kind of trail that lapped around the headland – it’s all public reserve – I stumbled upon a little foot-pad (somewhat obliterated by fallen trees after this last ECL) that circled the headland and even provided scramble access to a couple of small, wave washed shingle beaches.