Fight or Flight

It is easy to lose sight

Sometimes life can be overwhelming, many things can happen at once and be they good or bad in the moment the instinct is to handle all that is happening and do what you can to move forward.

There are patterns to life that repeat and sometimes the patterns are self-destructive.

Sometimes it takes a while for the flight or fight instinct to be turned off after dealing with trauma. Self-preservation is a strong instinct, to a certain extent it can show up in the patterns of our behavior. For instance, the stereotypical child with a failure to launch. Staying with their parents instead of going out into the world to seek their fortunes. Our society has gotten used to this to a certain extent because there are so many young adults who are finding it difficult to make a start in life. The reasons for this societal change could be expounded on but I want to make a point that this failure to launch is an instinctual flight from the scary and harsh world. Fight on the other hand can manifest itself in as overwork, restless dis-satisfaction with how things are and can appear to be the more virtuous of the two courses of action. Both patterns of behavior can be beneficial or self-destructive depending on the circumstances. On the one hand, someone who is staying with their parents could actively be facing the reality of life and using the resources they have as part of a well-planned strategy to have the best chance in life… or they could be zoning out, trying to avoid life by one form of distraction or another. On the other hand someone who is fighting could be making strides towards their goals in a well thought out and balanced way or they could be working endlessly trying to reach some point that they can’t define and burn out isolating themselves from the wonderful things that life has to offer besides for achievement.

I tend towards the fight end of things and that is the mode that I’ve been in well for most of my life. Sometimes more intensely than at other times. I isolate myself from others and it really is difficult for me to put down the books so to speak (stop studying) and just live, do things with others, be cheerful and happy. Laugh at myself and at the absurdity of life. Cry. Develop close relationships, have pet names and be thoughtful towards other people.