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The answer to this has been staring me in the face. It’s because Ne likes to learn new skills regardless of what they are. It really enjoys a steep learning curve. And all brains love setting, moving towards, and reaching goals. All release dopamine. https://twitter.com/personalitygeni/status/1346085872073105417
And with group sports, you get those Fe feels and bonding during and post-game. So my brain would always be like “Sad? Why not try a new group sport!! That seems to have worked in the past (tert Si).”
However, when we’re using our shadow functions, we often overcompensate or overdo or idealize the reward that will be attained. We make bad decisions. The rewards are almost never worth the effort we put in when using them.
For me, sports were always added on top of an already stressful schedule. I would play at 10-11 pm at night and be unable to sleep. It’s like scheduling meditation into an already overbooked schedule.
In order to slow down and make better use of our time, we need to tease apart the sources of dopamine— figure out what it is we really enjoy doing on a day-to-day basis, separate from the learning high and things we need to do in order to reach a goal.
The goal is to optimize and curate how we spend our time. Time spent doing things we don’t enjoy is an opportunity cost. Each type has a set of “high quality” (energy-releasing) and “low quality” experiences (energy draining). Focus on the high quality activities.
