Snap...Ouch

You know that special feeling when you stretch a rubber band too far only to have it break and snap back on you, it stings and downright hurts.  When I blew my knee out, I recall that “special feeling” when my ACL snapped.  Everything has limits to which it stretch or bend before it breaks.  For the non-engineers in the group, tensile strength is the term we use.  Tensile strength is the maximum stress something can stand before it breaks.  Short of a materials defect, cables and ropes snap when the tension on them exceeds their tensile strength.

I think we all have an internal tensile strength measurement too.  There is only so much stress, frustration, anger, sadness, or whatever that we can take before we snap.  The key to avoiding “the snap” is to recognize when you are hitting your limits.  Some but not all indicators can be feelings of anxiousness, uncomfortable feelings, physical tightness in your neck and shoulders, gritting your teeth, or making a fist.  Those signs and many others are our bodies telling us we are about to snap.  When you feel your tensile strength reach its limits, do a quick internal check; identify the source, and get out.  Nothing positive normally comes out of Snap…Ouch.