Cows vs. Bears and Hippos vs. Sharks.

When we think of deadly animals, two of the most notorious that come to mind are the bear and the shark.  They are big, aggressive and seemingly unstoppable.  If you are in the wilderness and encounter a large bear, particularly a mother bear with cubs, you have little hope of effectively defending yourself if you are attacked. 

The same could be said in the ocean if you encounter a shark.  What exactly could you do to fight an alpha predator in its territory?

Deadly?

Would it surprise you that neither bears nor sharks are even close to being the deadliest animals in the world?  Bears kill an average of ONE person per year.  Sharks kill 4 per year.  How about the innocuous cow?  An average of 22 people die from cow attacks in the United States alone!  The lovable hippopotamus is responsible for 500 deaths per year.  Hippos are much more aggressive than sharks and have a substantially stronger bite as well.

In Canada there are 4-8 traffic collisions per hour with wildlife, and 80% of those are deer.  An average of 52 per year are killed by deer in Canada alone.

Yet, you would be hard pressed to find very many people who are scared of hippos or cows and most people love deer.

Emotion vs. Logic

The point is that we often make judgements on situations based on emotion rather than logic.  It would be better to learn to distinguish what is fact and matters from what is hype.  How do we do that?  We can ask ourselves what the reality is and how does it affect us.

Is our situation a cow or a bear?  If we would like to get in better shape, is it a matter of working out more or is it that we are not eating the best foods for our goals and sabotaging whatever gains we are making in the gym?

If we find that we do not have as much money as we would like, is it a matter of making more money or should we examine our spending to determine if we can make changes and save more towards our financial goals.

If we find that we are not doing all the things we would like, is it a matter of not having enough time, or are we wasting time on things that are not productive.

In short, if we logically examine a situation, we can separate hype from reality and determine the best course for achieving an objective we have set for ourselves.  We can get to the change in behavior that will make the biggest difference in what we want to achieve, even if our emotions suggest something else.