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drclay said:
fayerody:

You asked: "Dr. Clay, do you think any of this resilence is inherited or is it environmental? thanks, pat "

I'm pretty convinced that both the positive (strength, e.g. resilence) and the negative side (weakness, e.g. panic withdrawal) are influenced by one's genes and by one's learning experiences. And the strength of the + and- varies by age and your learning history and other stuff we don't know about yet. I think we will take decades to learn about the sources of our emotions, although many people can clearly see where their emotions come from.

I know this isn't a very helpful answer. Maybe in time we will learn that we, as individuals are strongly influcened by our genes in certain specific ways. That would help understand ourselves but it is certain that many life experiences with scary situations influence our panic reactions and influence our confidence in our calming/coping mechanisms. Do you agree?

drclay

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i agree with you because when i try to think it through and separate it, i never can. i always come up with a reasoning that validates one and then the other. i was reared by very brave and hard-working people. so i saw a lot in them that i see in me now.

i also skipped some grade school and went to college at a very young age and that toughtened me up as i was far from home and pretty much left to my own devices and resources.

i had breast cancer at 31 and have had 11 surgeries on my left side and two on the right side. had reconstruction (they SAID it was safe in 1974) and i am now trying to prepare to have it "undone" as i want a few painfree years. none of this scares me. i have nothing left to fear physically.

i saw my dad break his leg in a hay baler, in the 40s and watched how he handled that and the farm work.....somewhere i picked up the idea that pain was just that....pain. and if you lean into it, it works for you.

so, see........i yoyo.....cause it could be genes and it could be environmental. i think it's both. however, i am prone to put a little more weight into genes for resilence.

no one in my family rodeoed. we ranched. and somehow i found myself doing a book on rodeo and climbing in the arena and standing in front of the chutes and doing whatever it takes to get "the" photograph. (hanging upside down into face of saddlebronc rider for close up of the grimace on his face just before he bucks out) i saw no "daredevil" stunts growing up but never hestitated to do them myself.

my family (siblings) view me as somewhat an oddity. they are all very conservative, isolating, fearful and just plain boring. they genuinely think i'm insane. and to the Indian cowboys and cowgirls i am some kind of an "magic" person. i have "powers" according to them. i am from two tribes and anglo and grew up mostly with Indians.

thank you so much for entering into this realm of life with me. i've wanted to discuss it with someone for years and years and years.