Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the fight or flight responses in humans:
In the human fight or flight response in prehistoric times, fight was manifested in aggressive, combative behavior and flight was manifested by fleeing potentially threatening situations, such as being confronted by a predator. In current times, these responses persist, but fight and flight responses have assumed a wider range of behaviors. For example, the fight response may be manifested in angry, argumentative behavior, and the flight response may be manifested through social withdrawal, substance abuse, and even television viewing.
Males and females tend to deal with stressful situations differently. Males are more likely to respond to an emergency situation with aggression (fight), while females are more likely to flee (flight), turn to others for help, or attempt to defuse the situation – 'tend and befriend'. During stressful times, a mother is especially likely to show protective responses toward her offspring and affiliate with others for shared social responses to threat.
The fight or flight responses are at the core of our survival mode. In prehistoric times, it was kill or be killed and eat or be eaten. Still today, these responses are still very evident in our lives, though they show up in very different ways. Most of us have to worry about either killing our food or our food killing us. We usually don't have to worry about being invaded by a wandering clan that wants to pillage our community, kill us, and take our women and children. For the most part, we live in a much more civilized time and place.
The fight or flight response has changed to our everyday activities. We get home from a long day at work, the kids have their activities that they need ran from here to there to, and we still need to find time for supper. Once all of that has been completed, we may have time for some TV, an hour at the gym, or maybe we can take some time and catch up on Facebook. I know that my days seem much like this. And that only covers Monday through Friday. The weekend? Laundry, yard work, cleaning, home repairs, and more activities to run the kids to. With our busy schedules, we are either fighting to get it all done, or we flight away from some of the things that are important to us because they seem to be going smoothly.
What I mean by flight away is, that we begin to ignore the relationships closest to us, our passion for our career, true happiness, and so forth because they give us the illusion that they are fine. We ignore the warning signs of a failing marriage, the fact that we "have" to go to work instead of wanting to go to work, and signs that our life isn't where we want it to be. We begin settling and just surviving our lives.
I believe that we have an opportunity be develop a thrive response to our lives. Sure it's not always easy to get out of our comfort zone and reach for that which we truly desire, but we are so worth the effort. Anything worth having is worth working for. Are you worth your best? Is being truly happy worth working toward? Believe that you were put on this earth to thrive. Know that you deserve a life that is thriving. For a plant to grow and thrive, they dig their roots deeper and reach for the sunlight. Work on becoming who it is that you want to be by working on yourself and reaching those roots deep so that you can't easily be shaken. Reach for the sun by reaching for your dream and passions.
The fight or flight response has changed to our everyday activities. We get home from a long day at work, the kids have their activities that they need ran from here to there to, and we still need to find time for supper. Once all of that has been completed, we may have time for some TV, an hour at the gym, or maybe we can take some time and catch up on Facebook. I know that my days seem much like this. And that only covers Monday through Friday. The weekend? Laundry, yard work, cleaning, home repairs, and more activities to run the kids to. With our busy schedules, we are either fighting to get it all done, or we flight away from some of the things that are important to us because they seem to be going smoothly.
What I mean by flight away is, that we begin to ignore the relationships closest to us, our passion for our career, true happiness, and so forth because they give us the illusion that they are fine. We ignore the warning signs of a failing marriage, the fact that we "have" to go to work instead of wanting to go to work, and signs that our life isn't where we want it to be. We begin settling and just surviving our lives.
I believe that we have an opportunity be develop a thrive response to our lives. Sure it's not always easy to get out of our comfort zone and reach for that which we truly desire, but we are so worth the effort. Anything worth having is worth working for. Are you worth your best? Is being truly happy worth working toward? Believe that you were put on this earth to thrive. Know that you deserve a life that is thriving. For a plant to grow and thrive, they dig their roots deeper and reach for the sunlight. Work on becoming who it is that you want to be by working on yourself and reaching those roots deep so that you can't easily be shaken. Reach for the sun by reaching for your dream and passions.
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