It’s always the dishwasher.
But the trust that develops in HSS relationships doesn’t only
help strengthen the trust in their everyday lives, it enhances the
sensation-seeking activity too.
“I feel like our climbing experience and our experi-
ences outside of climbing are made fuller because we get to
experience it with each other,” Jess said. “Because we have
a level of trust outside of our activities that most people who
just have a random climbing partner don’t really have. I think
the relationship enriches the climbing experiences and vice
versa.”
But couples who spend their time engaged in such shenani-
gans feel just as misunderstood as people who do it alone. Parents
and friends who are average or low sensation-seekers sometimes
tolerate it, but don’t necessarily get why they do it.
“I don’t think your parents really understand it,” Jess
started. “My dad think’s it’s awesome, but I don’t think he under-
stands it really.”
“I would say they’re supportive of us,” Kris added. “In the
same way you just sort of accept the crazy aunt or uncle for who
they are, they accept that we are going to climb and it’s not going to
change. Neither one of us inherited any of our activities or anything
from our parents.”
I asked if some of their activities might change if they had
kids.
“Yeah, you know, we’ve talked about it some actually,” Kris
explained. “I think that instanceswhere we are both in a situation that
if something went really wrong, both people would, you know...”
“Die,” Jess finished.
“Yeah, if both people were in danger of dying, we’ve talked
about perhaps not doing that so much, or perhaps not even at all.”
Perhaps.
“But the actual climbing lifestyle? I don’t think it’s going to
change,” Kris said.
“No. We would just put them in a baby carrier and strap
them to a tree,” Jess joked. (I think.)
“Right,” Kris agreed in sort of a verbal high five.
Greater trust, shared wonderful experiences? Sounds fan-
tastic. But all this made me wonder if a high sensation-seeker could
get along just as well with someone who doesn’t share this person-
ality trait. Jess wasn’t so sure.109 / The Relationships of High Sensation-SeekersDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:21:35, subject to the Cambridge