Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back

The first chapter I have in my book
Is called
“Stand Up Straight with your Shoulders Back”
And it's an injunction
To be combative
Not least to further your career let's say
But also, to adopt
A stance of ready engagement with the world
And to reflect that in your posture

I kind of have an affinity for lobsters
When a lobster loses a fight
It kind of crunches down
So it looks smaller
When he wins the fight, he stretches out, looks bigger
And so, he's signaling
To other lobsters
The tally of his victory
So, you think well so what
The lobster runs on serotonin
Neurochemical
And if the lobster loses the serotonin levels go down and if he wins the serotonin levels go up
And when the serotonin levels go up
He stretches out
And he's a confident lobster
And one of the
Consequences of that is if a lobster loses a battle
And you give ‘em
The equivalent of antidepressant
Then he stretches out and go fight again

[Chorus]
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stan-Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back

So, anti-depressants work on lobsters
And you think ”Well, who cares?”
It's like, no-no-no
You don't get it
We diverged from lobsters from an evolutionary perspective
350 million years ago
And it's the same circuit
It's absolutely unbelievable
And that shows you how deep inside you
How basic
How primordial that circuit is in you
That's sizing other people up
And looking at where they fit
In the hierarchy
The idea of the hierarchy is at least 350 million years old
And so, I read that and I think
Well, so much for the idea that
Human hierarchies are a socio-cultural construct
It's like no
That's wrong
It's not just a little bit wrong it’s unbelievably wrong
It is mindbogglingly wrong
Lobsters have hierarchies
That's a third of a billion years ago
Okay, that's not a social construction
It's part of being itself
And if you only see a hierarchy as
Power
And tyranny
Then you're looking at the world wrong

[Chorus]
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stan-Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back

So, this basically says
I'm open to the world
But what it also says is
I can handle being open to the world
So, it signifies competence and confidence
The deepest Christian idea
Is that
You should accept the vulnerability of being
That's the acceptance of the crucifixion
You’re at the X
Where all the suffering takes place
You’re going to whine about that?
And get resentful and bitter about it
Or you gonna say
Bring it on
I can handle it
No matter what it is
And the idea is that
If you can do that you will transcend the tragedy
And it's like
Well, could that be true?
Well, you admire the courageous
So well, how courageous can you get?
That's the question
How courageous can you get?
Well, you practice

[Chorus]
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stan-Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
Stand up straight
With your shoulders back

If you want to present yourself to the world
In a manner that
Doesn’t disgrace you in some sense
You don’t want to disgrace yourself
Because the consequence of disgrace is emotional disregulation
More pain
Less positive emotion
And so, the way to present yourself is to stand up
Forthrightly
And to stretch out
You know, and to occupy some space
If you straighten up
And you present yourself in that manner then other people are more likely to take you seriously
And that means they’ll start treating as if you’re a number one lobster
Instead of a number 10 lobster
Because one of the general rules of thumb about how to be successful
Is to
Confront things that frighten you forthrightly and with courage
And that’s kind of a universal strategy for success
And so that's what the first chapter is about