Fight or flight is what the reaction is called when you feel like you are backed into a corner and only have these 2 options. Supposedly this began all the way back to Adam and Eve and possibly even before then with the Dinosaurs because it serves as a survival mechanism. It is good for the short term but what happens when you can't turn it off???
All of us experience anxiety, some a lot more intense than others. Our genes can determine much of how we feel when anxiety hits but environment plays a huge role too. Can you tell I am going to be a psychologist here ? Lol
The worst form of anxiety, in my humble opinion, is free-floating. This means it just hangs around like a cloud always overhead or a shadow that never leaves you. No matter what you do the anxiety is there and it feel like something too tight around your neck or chest it makes you uncomfortable. If anxiety gets to be too much, it can cause a panic attack Believe me if you have ever experienced one- you don't want them ever!!!! You begin to feel your pulse race super fast your throat gets dry and you feel like your burning up your heart begins to beat superfast you feel frozen dizzy like your ready to pass out and you just want to scream but at the same time you feel totally embarrassed ashamed silly because to anyone looking around- nothing appears to be going on. This is what makes it so awful. The symptoms begin in your mind THEN appear in your body and it can happen without any warning!!!!!
Some people suffer this so badly they develop a condition called agoraphobia= fear of open places. Others have it happen in specific places like in a car in a supermarket at the beach just about anywhere. The added whammy to it is the memory stays with you, it drives you crazy as you relive the fear and the struggle all the craziness as well as the social stigma of people seeing you get all freaked out. Do you wonder why some turn to drugs or alcohol or other measures as way to escape???
Anti-anxiety meds do help. Other therapies do also. Just be a lil kinder to yourself if you struggle with it. If you don't have understanding and love for those who do. Maybe it will help make things just a lil easier. Peace.
