I am waiting for people to call me back. Didn't Dante write about this level of purgatory?

Yes. It's right above the leg warmer level.

So, yeah, there's screaming. I haven't seen a quiet way to get people fierce yet.

I'm surprising myself with the timiditude. I don't generally see myself that way. In my imagination, I'm an asskicker from way back. And the various times I've actually had to defend myself, I was not shy.

Plus, as a long-distance cyclist, I was the surliest dog on the trail...doing plenty of yelling myself. ("Ya like life buddy? Then stay off the fucking trail!"...a personal favorite.)

Yesterday, for some reason, the idea of someone doing a drill sergeant number was just not appealing. I won't, however, let that get in the way of a lifelong dream to do fight training.

In the moment, it strikes me that I'm afraid I may not be half as tough as I like to think I am. I guess krav will tell.

Put up or shut up moments...and there have been more than a few in my life...tend to inspire some ambivalance right before I take the plunge...it'll pass.

I'm afraid my automatic reaction to someone yelling at me to do something is to defy them. I don't do the yelling thing.

The screaming part was my favorite. It got a lot of my cramped feelings out.

I'm afraid my automatic reaction to someone yelling at me to do something is to defy them

Even if you want to do the thing they're exhorting you to do? Isn't that a bit self-defeating?

Even if you want to do the thing they're exhorting you to do? Isn't that a bit self-defeating?

Probably. But I don't believe yelling at people is conducive to cooperation. It's a personal thing.

Yes. Hence the fun of "authority issues".

I don't believe yelling at people is conducive to cooperation

What's a good way to get you fired up and to push past your pre-conceived definitions of your limits? What pumps you up in a group setting like that?

I don't yell at people because of an authority thing. I feel I have just as much authority (often more) when I'm talking quietly. But to infect them with energy, I've not found anything to compare with yelling myself -- because they need to yell too, and I have to set an energetic example.

Do as I do, and as I say -- that sort of thing.

Yelling, in my mind, equates to the person doing the yelling having no respect for the recipient. If the yeller believed the person was capable of doing whatever was being asked, then there would be no need to bring verbal violence into the situation. Either the yeller holds the recipient in contempt or the yeller feels he's at a disadvantage that can only be compensated with verbal violence.

What's a good way to get you fired up and to push past your pre-conceived definitions of your limits?

Tell me what's in it for me. Appeal to my reason. Emotional appeals and cheerleading make me suspicious.