Lizard-bite sensation, Australia 2001
Some people say what I do is dangerous (hello mother). Is it really necessary to travel to countries like Honduras (highest murder rate in the world) or Colombia? In fact, why travel at all when home is a safe, convenient and rich country like Germany? I get this question a lot. There are many reasons for why I travel. It makes me very happy. But it’s also exciting. There is always something new to discover, new experiences to be made. I always saw myself as an explorer type of person.
Recently, my clinical travel psychologist Dipl.-Psych. R. Voegler introduced me to the concept of ‘sensation seeking’. Apparently, people that fall into that category have a tendency to pursue sensory pleasure and excitement. It’s the trait of people who go after novelty, complexity, and intense sensations, who love experience for its own sake. Sensation seekers are easily bored without high levels of stimulation and therefore seek thrills.
I instantly liked the concept. It’s certainly something I can identify myself with. Sometimes it’s nice to fit so well into a category that gives some explanation of why I do the things I do.
What is your opinion about all this? Many of you, my faithful blog readers, know me well. Do you believe that I am seeking the thrill?
Am I a sensation seeker?
- Yep (80%, 8 Votes)
- No, you are just weird (20%, 2 Votes)
- Not sure (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 10
Loading …And what about you? Are you a sensation seeker? Here is a test with 20 questions (of which I answered 16 with ‘yes’) that might give some indication.
2 Comments
Comment by Felipe Mejía Medina — September 18, 2011 @ 10:59 pm
What a nice concept: sensation seeking. But it is strange at the same time. It seems to me that everybody with a certain sensation capability would seek a source of felt-comfortable sensations.
Is there a need here of an adjective that qualifies the kind of sensation that is being felt?
I was reading a bit about this and, of course, the first option had to be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensation-Seeking_Scale
You write such as you talk. Cool!
Viele Grüsse!
F.
Comment by Sampath Koppole — September 28, 2011 @ 3:37 am
I think you are more “experience-seeking” than “sensation – seeking”. You are going to all these places – not to get involved with the “mafia” or the criminals (get sensationalized !). You are going there for experiences (sometimes by chance – they might get sensational). Unfortunately these places are a little dangerous. Hey, if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can get killed in a safe country like Switzerland.
Reading your experiences with great interest
Cheers & Good luck
Sampath
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
RSS