Upon entering law enforcement, I was cautioned about the career’s perils. I received sage advice warning against drinking, gambling and excessive spending, alongside cautions about how the job can negatively impact our waistlines and heart health. It was also mentioned how the profession takes a toll on our relationships. While these vices are not exclusive to law enforcement, the chronic stress and exposure to trauma experienced by first responders tend to have a magnified effect compared to the average civilian.
I recently listened to Michael Easter being interviewed on several podcasts about his book, “Scarcity brain: Fix your craving mindset and rewire your habits to thrive with enough.” Easter explores the “scarcity loop” and discusses how humans are inherently predisposed to fall into it. After discovering this and understanding its implications, it inspired me to examine how we can adopt the concepts and lessons from his book into our law enforcement careers and lifestyles to foster healthier behaviors and outcomes.
Whether you’ve been on the job for two days or two decades, it’s almost certain you’ve observed or heard about these issues manifesting in colleagues, if not in yourself. So, let’s delve into understanding the “scarcity brain” and explore how we can apply this knowledge toward fostering healthier officers and promoting longer, more fulfilling careers.
The scarcity brain stems from our brain’s decision-making processes aimed at ensuring our survival during times of resource scarcity. Reflecting on centuries or eons past, we were genetically and biologically programmed to consume any viable calories available to us, uncertain of when our next meal would come or what efforts would be required to obtain it. Consequently, overeating served as a survival mechanism during periods of prolonged food scarcity.
The scarcity loop is essentially a cycle driven by our scarcity brain, influenced by reward systems. Easter delineates this into three key concepts: opportunity, unpredictable rewards and rapid repeatability.
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