How fear affects your nervous system
Going through a global pandemic that we all went through, wars, economic and environmental hardships, social unrest. I am sure you all agree, we live in a collective fear and the uncertainty that it brings into our everyday life.
It is affecting our relationships, families and businesses/livelihood and mental, emotional and physical health.
How can you build resilience and growth through fears?
What is fear?
Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioural changes, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived painful/hurtful or traumatic events.
The fear response arises from the leading to confrontation with or escape from/avoiding the threat (also known as the Fight-or-flight_response, which in extreme cases of fear horror and terror can be a freeze response or paralysis.
In humans and other animals, fear is modulated by the process of Cognition and learning. Thus fear is judged as rational and appropriate, or Irrational and inappropriate.
The effects of fear:
- Alerts amygdala which activates your nervous system.
- Releases cortisol & adrenaline
- Creates anxiety, worry, stress, pain
- Blood pressure & rate Increases
- Breath changes – hold, shallow
- Blood Flow changes moving to limbs for fight, or flight response
- Brain becomes foggy – cerebral cortex becomes impaired.
- Can become a source of pleasure – dangerous behaviours.
- Physical symptoms examples: Migraines, chest pain, heart palpitations, sweaty palms, back pain, knee pain, ankle, foot, hip, lower abdomen.
- Kidneys, Bladder sexual organs.
- Reduced Immunity
- Chronic Fatigue & Insomnia
What state are you currently in?
Depending on what state you have been forced to and (now) you are used to operate from, will dictate your perception, reality and well – being.
If you are affected, suffering and desire a change? Then to make that change and to bring resilience and growth, requires you to Reset your bodymind and to begin to “exercise” learned tools, methods against fear & the state you operating from.
I always use the metaphor of going to the gym as if you want to make your muscles stronger, you have to go to the gym, or start exercising your muscles that have atrophied from weakness. To experience results you must exercise regularly and consistently. In the same way we must exercise our nervous system against our stressors and triggers to build resilience and growth.
“Triggers” are like storms in nature a natural phenomena and inevitable.
In that same way our fears and the reactions they create have been conditioned in us for so long they’ve become habitual and we have learned how to “adapt” to them, to manage, to store, to avoid, to run away and to soothe them.
Now what hurts us Is the adaptation we created and the persona versus who we truly are are in ac conflict. That's the friction that you feel, the pain and suffering that you are experiencing.
To grow and evolve we must move through our fears and that requires us to exercise with them.
Sitting with them as an interested viewer and through experiencing them and experiencing how we use different tools, methods to build resilience to them will create growth and a shift in our well-being and development.That’s why I always say it’s not what happens to us that hurts us and keeps us stagnate, or in a state we don’t desire, it’s the lack of tools and the volume that we deal with internally and externally that can feel like a scary and overwhelming. Fears With Evidence – are fears that were created from <strong>past</strong> hurts, experiences of loss and even terror. They keep on being recreated consciously and, or, subconsciously affirming our position and state, affirming our narrative and conditioning.
Use this Acronym to remind yourself: FEAR
FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL.