Therefore Having Gone

Therefore Having Gone

Sunday, September 4, 2022

DOPAMINE?

Last Monday, after spending several weeks mentally preparing for my trip to Ghana - and a few minutes actually packing for it - I was turned away from the Delta check-in counter. I called my wife to come back to the airport and pick me and the luggage up. 

While I waited, I worked on contacting the powers-that-be about postponing my flight so that I would not lose the money paid for the ticket. (Thankfully, I eventually succeeded.)

By the time Melissa returned to take me home, I was exhausted. It was about 6:30 pm and I could hardly keep my eyes open. 

I was thankful Melissa was willing to continue behind the wheel because, psychologically, I was crashing hard. 

As I reflected on this over the next few days, I grew more and more curious about the brain chemistry at play in such a letdown. 

As I have time in the coming days, I want to investigate what was at work between my ears and in my blood stream. Somehow my thoughts have gone straight to dopamine, though I know very little about it or what it does. 

But with my interest in starting and maintaining habits, if there is some brain chemical at play in human motivation, reward, and disappointment, I want to learn more. 

If I find anything worth sharing, I will let you know. 😉

(Maybe you already know more about dopamine than I do. If so, please enlighten me or point me to some good sources of info.)

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