>The sad part is that I begin to miss being stung right around this time of year.
I have caught myself in this thought in the last days and found it
puzzling. I´m not sure if it was "I even would take the stings if I
could see my bees again" or actually "I miss the stings". I am not
trying to get stung when I am with my bees at least.
I think what happens is we somehow get the wires crossed between pain
and reward. Similar to how one would miss sore muscles after not
working out for a long time instead the general more subtle benefits
of more oxygen/getting the circulation going. We associate a specific
small negative feeling that is easy to remember with a more
diffuse/general more positive one.
Personally I don´t notice a higher pain threshold neither in
beekeeping or other parts of life. I can certainly tell the difference
between a "grazing" one into the hand or one that "hits a nerve" into
the nostril. But not swelling up anymore and knowing it will pass and
what to expect helps to not be bothered much about them. Somehow the
"negative feedback" get´s attenuated. I can "picture" some of my first
stings, but I can´t many that came later despite them being
"objectively" more painful if that makes sense.
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