Have you ever heard of flight, fight, or freeze? During times of crisis and traumatic experiences we enter survival mode, which means there’s no long-term or medium-term plan. Trauma drives your mind and body to stay focused – getting through the next 24 hours. If this happens day-in, day-out then some of the effects are:
Fatigue: You may feel more tired, in body and mind.
Emotionally reactive: If you find yourself being more upset about things that you wouldn’t normally react to, this can be a sign of survival brain. Perhaps you’re snippier or grumpier or cry more easily.
Lack of focus: Things might seem foggy or hard to concentrate. You might have trouble finishing one activity in a focused manner or in the way you “usually” can.
Changes in memory: You may have a hard time remembering situations or things that happen throughout the day. If a partner asks how your day was, you may honestly not really know.
Forgetting to care for basic needs: Having trouble brushing your teeth? Exercising? Washing your face? Changing your sheets? These can all be signs.
More impulsive: You might spend excessively, eat more, or engage in activities you might not normally.
Trauma drive is something we have learned to go through the motions in life and do what we need to do. This might be an effective way to complete tasks and navigate our hectic schedules, yet what are the consequences of going through life in survival mode? When we are “surviving” too long, we can feel the effects it has on us. In fact, research shows that chronic stress and chronic exposure to stress hormones can even be harmful (Hormone Health Network, 2018). A frequent stress response and overexposure to stress-response hormones can take a toll on the body, take a toll on our emotional health, impact our relationships, lead to a number of medical issues, and increase risk for anxiety and depression (Harvard, 2018; Hormone Health Network, 2018). As with all things, too much of this good thing, or our body working to protect us and help us survive, can actually become a bad thing.
How can you decrease the motivation to be productive or going through motions to get through another day? There are a few things that may help us on our journeys:
- Self empathy: Self-empathy is the acknowledgment that, like all human beings, you deserve understanding and compassion. To truly practice self-empathy to its fullest, you must be willing to use it even when you trip over your own feet and make mistakes that leave you feeling embarrassed or wishing you had stayed home.
- Self compassion: Self-compassion entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating ourselves with self-criticism.
- Find support: Identify friends or family members for support. If you feel ready to discuss the traumatic event, you might talk to them about your experience and your feelings. You can also ask loved ones to help you with household tasks or other obligations to relieve some of your daily stress.
- Prioritize self-care. Do your best to eat nutritious meals, get regular physical activity, and get a good night’s sleep. And seek out other healthy coping strategies such as art, music, meditation, relaxation, and spending time in nature.
- Go on a walk: Exercise helps your nervous system restore balance by burning off adrenaline and releasing endorphins through movement. Endorphins help combat situational depression that may develop as a result of the traumatic event. In other words, lowering your adrenaline levels helps balance and clarify communications to your body and endorphins boost energy, stamina, and a “feel good” mood so that you’re no longer feeling and acting like you are in a life-threatening situation.