Hypervigilance and its role for the Loner.

DISCLAIMER: I haven't been paid to flog Mark Sissons' work or anything. I just happen to think it's a good framework for healthful living. I'll probably touch on the Primal Blueprint in later posts, once I'm able to start eating how I want to.

The concept of hypervigilance is one I first heard about when I conducted research into fitness and diet in an effort to curb a habit of eating terribly that I had developed. I was put onto the wonderful Primal Blueprint by a friend who knew that I loved food so wouldn't stick with anything that restricted my choices. The Primal Blueprint goes further than a way of eating though - a lot of it has wider applications.

Hypervigilance is one of the Primal Blueprints' central lifestyle laws, and though I haven't been able to apply too many of the other laws for one reason or another, this one really stuck with me and eventually led me to the Holistic Thinking mentioned in my last post.

So what is it? As I read it initially, hypervigilance is the state of being aware of the environment to a high degree in case threats present and cause trouble. Here, 'environment' means a few things - the Primal Blueprint takes a focused physical approach, but I tend to apply it to social and even financial situations as well. It's constant scanning and evaluation of a circumstance and being aware of a 'worst possible scenario' so that it can be avoided without too much effort. It's keeping your eyes peeled, your head in the game, and your heartrate down. That last part is very significant, but I'll discuss that in a moment.

For a loner, being aware of a concept like hypervigilance is a massive boon - it helps you anticipate things before they happen, but mostly it keeps you out of trouble before you get into it. If you're going it alone, oftentimes there won't be anyone there to help you get back on your feet, so avoiding situations that could be dangerous to you and help you stay safe so you can enjoy new experiences and places with some sort of security becomes principle. Once you've got to go into damage control, things can get messy when you haven't got a support network or readily available help. A strongly independent person equipped with well tuned avoidance mechanisms will sustain themselves and grow healthier and longer than someone who can't get themselves out of a jam until they're damaged. At the core of it, this brand of hypervigilance is about cutting the crap out of your life and keeping it out, using nothing more than your own judgement and intelligence.

I realize that I'm probably using a couple of pretty problematic terms here - a basic googling of hypervigilance will bring up a lot about how it's a form of psychological injury, one step down from full blown paranoia, and something that needs to be treated so 'sufferers' can enjoy life. I don't disagree with these suggestions if someone is suffering from a full time hypervigilant state. What I'm suggesting in this post is that the state is a useful tool to minimize involvement in any stupid situations. It's a conscious state to bring oneself to in situations that might provide that 'slippery slope' of a damaging situation - and the main thrust of it is to remain mindful of these threats so you can get along with enjoying life at some point. I absolutely don't recommend fostering a state of hypervigilance on a permanent basis - that's unhealthy and missing the point of what the state is meant to achieve. Like a couple of beers can help you unwind after a stressful day but a whole case will destroy you for the next two days, so a bit of conscious hypervigilance can help you avoid a lot of detrimental situations, whereas a permanent state of it will be just as unhealthy as the aforementioned situations. Everything in moderation.

As always, I hope this has been useful to someone and that the concept gains adoption in the wider community. It's certainly been useful for me and has probably been the main reason I have gained not only independence, but happiness too. Feel free to comment with any questions, or even your own experiences.