The vast majority of us simply don’t work in careers like
these, and that includes many HSSs. After all, even jobs we perceive
to be filled with stimulation often turn out not to be in real life.
Sure, being a firefighter is an intense career, but not every call is
a four alarm fire. There are small kitchen fires to douse, people
stuck in elevators to rescue, and of course, reports to write, and
maybe even a cat or two to rescue.
Most HSSs know this, and they don’t expect their job to fulfill
the part of themselves that desires intense experience. Instead, they
seek that out recreationally. Like Indiana Jones, they masquerade as
normal folks during the work week, and then use their weekends to
go spelunking, BASE jumping, do Tough Mudder competitions or eat
exotic foods most of us would never consider trying.
However, there is an important lesson to be learned here.
High sensation-seekers who become firefighters, police officers,
test pilots, or get into careers we often think of as risky in the
hopes that their days will be filled with intense experiences could
find themselves bored, stifled, disappointed, and may underper-
form because they are not being challenged.
At the end of the day, there is no perfect HSS job, but there
are many scenarios where being a high sensation-seeker can be an
asset. If you’re an HSS, it may be more likely you will thrive in
a chaotic environment such as the emergency room, but it doesn’t
necessarily predict your success there. There are many other factors
against which the high sensation-seeking personality must be
balanced if he or she is going to flourish in any given career. Like
many things, being an HSS can be a blessing or a curse. It all
depends on the broader context of the work, the environment,
and the character of a given person. In some cases, it can be like
a super power. In others it can take a dark turn and lead people
down a path no one wants to go. It’s time for us to walk this dark
path and see what happens to the high sensation-seeker when the
need to feel the buzz goes too far.134 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:18:48, subject to the Cambridge