Life Lagged

The human being is an adaptable animal. When his surroundings change, he adjusts on a both a conscious and subconscious level to those surroundings. Introduce a new language to a human and he slowly begins being to able to speak it. Place him in an environment without romantic outlets and he begins finding them. Disable him and he finds ways to live handicapped.

Before this complete acculturation and acclimatization, though, there is a lag. Physically, these are very obvious. A lag in daylight shifts is called “jet lag” or “Seasonal Affect Disorder.” A lag in being accustomed to oxygen levels is “altitude sickness.” The lag in the adjustment to drugs being not in one’s system is called “withdrawal,” a “nic fit,” or “jonesing.” A lag in the adjustment of skin pigment results in “sun burn.” Your body has similar unnamed or obscurely named adjustments and lag periods regarding humidity levels, diet composition, calorie usage and a million other factors.

Emotionally we have lag periods as well. Having romantic companionship after being used to not having it results in an unstable euphoric “puppy love” period. Death of a loved one or a job loss can result in panic and feelings of hopelessness. Success and failure results in emotional reactions. Eventually, though, with any of these, the brain adjusts so the human can move on and live.

After returning from vacation, I almost didn’t mind sitting in my cube. I felt rested, entertained and content. Today, though, it is apparent that the lag of good feeling from vacation is wearing off even faster than my jet lag. Well, we can’t be high forever. The brain adjusts for some reason. It doesn’t let us remain content. We must always feel incomplete to drive us to do more. Otherwise, like opium-addicted sailors, we would lie around doing nothing.

So, this readjustment to the gloom of DC may in fact be necessary.