Have you ever wondered if you’re actually busy or if you’re just trying to escape a certain situation? Take a minute to think about your actions daily. Analyze your specific personality traits and the goal behind these traits that you act on. Are they really your personality or just a cover for other intentions? Flight response, like other fear responses, can manifest in your daily life without your knowledge. Here are the hidden signs that you never knew about flight response in your daily life.
Unhealthy distractions. This is the most hidden sign of flight response in your daily life. Unhealthy distractions can appear as overworking and overscheduling. You’ll know that it is already unhealthy if it already leads you to burnout. It is overworking when you always find excuses to get back into the office and spend more time there than you need to work. Overscheduling is when you book out all of your time and you tend to decline spontaneous schedule changes with family.
Chronic rushing or always moving. Do you always find yourself “on the move”? There’s no more time to relax and think about your next actions. Well, this is a sign that you’re already trying to avoid or run away from a certain situation. It may be a trauma or something you fear.
Distancer. If you find yourself distancing yourself not only from conflicts, traumas, or fears but also from your friends and other people, then this is definitely a sign of flight response. The fact that you keep yourself far from others means you are already running away from the risks of facing your fears.
Runner. What do you do when you’re having a misunderstanding with someone important and close to you? Do you confront the misunderstanding and talk about it, or do you find yourself leaving the situation and just coming back until the problem is forgotten? Well, if you answered that you find yourself leaving the situation, you are a runner, and being a runner is a sign of having a flight response.
Addiction or eating disorders. Flight response can also manifest as addiction or eating disorders. This could be your way of distracting yourself from your trauma or fears. This is an unhealthy way of distracting yourself, and if you find yourself suffering from this, please do not hesitate to seek professional help.
Of course, our experiences of trauma and fear, including our reactions to them, are different for each of us. You may not fall specifically prey to this flight fear response, but it is also good that you’re aware of the hidden signs of this specific response. If up until now you’re still figuring out what your fear response is, you can take this fear response quiz we made. Identifying your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in relation to the four fear responses—fight, flight, fawn, and freeze is helpful in getting to know yourself, particularly how your mind works. With this, you’ll be able to predict and manage your reactions in the future.
If you think you have a different fear response, you can try reading these articles:
How Does “Fight” Fear Response Manifest In Us?
Stuck In A Freeze Fear Response, Should I Be Worried?
Fawning: The Not-Well-Known Fourth Fear Response
4 Fear Responses: “Fight”, “Flight”, “Freeze”, and “Fawn” in Movies
Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services, LLC is a diverse therapy clinic that can meet the needs of anyone. If you’d like to talk about your mental health, feel free to message us here.
References:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQHDQnDjCvK/?utm_medium=copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/al.mindful.therapist/p/CWtdkPfrwzL/?utm_medium=copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYp6E4kMhcy/?utm_medium=copy_link
