They expect to be cold…

I heard a story recently that I thought I would share. The moral of the story is that we can be happy in almost any circumstance when we adjust our expectations accordingly.

This is a story told to me recently that, apparently, I had told many years before, possibly a story I heard during my days in medical school.

A large industrial company was doing construction in Alaska during the cold winter months. They had employees brought from the continental United States as well as native Americans from tribes original to Alaska.

The cold was unbearable, at least to the men who did not have native Alaskan heritage. The men without Alaskan blood could only stand a couple of hours, maybe even minutes, in the cold weather before needing a break in a warming area to reestablish feeling in their fingers, noses, and toes. The men from Alaska could work for hours and hours in the unrelenting cold.

Testing was done to see what the difference was in the two classes of men. After many tests, no difference was found in body or fat composition, cardiovascular status, or internal body temperature.

What was found was a difference in expectation. The men from Alaska expected to be cold, and worked on regardless of their frozen fingers and cold toes.