This week on The Practice Plan, we’re diving into our stress responses. In many ways, our awareness of the patterns we can fall into under stress and pressure is step number one in utilizing our toolkit. When we recognize our stress, we can then choose a different way forward. But if we don’t recognize it for what it is, it can quietly run the show.
So, today, we’re examining four common stress responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.
If you’re an Elevate Program alum, you’ve heard us reference these in the context of TED* and our Problem Orientation. But we’ve never gone deep on all four. My hope for this week is to unpack each and provide examples, so we can all be better equipped to recognize which we fall into.
Joining me this week is Javier, who brought a ton of great nuance and real-world examples to each of these responses.
Here’s the framing to hold onto as you read: these stress responses aren’t bad. They’re adaptive. Under stress, our brain is essentially asking, ”What’s the fastest, easiest, most comfortable way to reduce this discomfort right now?” Sometimes these responses help us get through. And they often pull us away from what we actually want. The goal this week is awareness, not judgment.
Before We Begin
Remember, the power of this work comes not only from understanding it, but practicing it.
If you’re an annual subscriber, utilize your 90-week workbook to capture reflections and track your practice.
If you’re an Elevate Program Alum, this can also be done in the Cohd Learning Portal.
Monthly subscribers can download the practice template below.
