The flight response happens when we encounter something stressful, and our sympathetic nervous system takes over and tells us to RUN! This was great when tigers were chasing us, but how do we manage this when the danger is a work deadline?
This is where over-thinking, excessive exercise or over-working, and other distractions are effectively things that keep us ‘running’ from the stress when our bodies can’t run to escape the situation.
Flight is a NORMAL trauma response. Your body, mind, and nervous system have learned that you remain safe if you run. It might have been running from a parent or sibling who would hit you as a child. This experience might have taught you that running keeps you safe, emotionally, physically, or both.
We then repeat this behaviour when faced with similar stress as adults.
