Your body is not a four-year-old

People are convinced that they are smarter than our own bodies. Why is this? My body is really, really smart - but I am not. Take smoking (completely clean for almost a year!). You put your first cigarette to your lips and take your first drag and your body does the responsible thing. It tries to violently expel the crap you have just forced into it. You, on the other hand, spend the next five minutes trying to convince your body that, no, really this is great! And, if you get over the coughing, eventually this will give you a buzz. Until it's more about feeling normal - so just smoke more. Your body knows that you are full of shit. It's like telling a toddler she will like brussel sprouts, keep eating. That toddler knows the sprouts suck and they are not going to suck less just by eating more. In that situation it is the grown-up who is stupid. The toddler knows what she does and does not like. We treat our bodies like that toddler. Eat too much sugar, and your body lets you know you have made a mistake. It even gives you a head's up - you feel sick well before you throw up. Our poor bodies are very communicative about what is and is not acceptable. And yet we are so convinced of our own smartitude we don't listen to the expert.

This is on my mind because today I have a bit of a hang-over. This is my body telling me without hesitation that I am a screw-up. It let me know there was a problem all throughout the evening - it kept taking away things I like. You know, like memory and hand-eye coordination. So the next day is one big "Never do that again!" And I know I will not listen. Sometime, probably in the near future, I will get a hangover again. And I will ruminate that day on why I am stupid and do not listen to the more intelligent party - which also happens to be me. To those friends of mine in Austin, Waco, and D.C. - yes, I get hangovers now, apparently I was only invincible for a short period of time - you may well read this as you sip black coffee trying to convince your own body that you know what's best. Let's just all admit we are stupid. Let's make no excuses and accept that we have completely missed the Bell curve, here. We are not as smart as our stomach, lungs, or liver. How does that make you feel? For me, it puts this whole "Ph.D" thing into perspective.