Sometimes Fight, Sometimes Flight
May 8Let us rewind back to the days of our youth. Let us go to health class. Ah the fight or flight response.
A novel stimulus (which could include a perception of danger or an environmental stresser signal such as elevated sound levels or over-illumination), once perceived, is relayed from the sensory cortex of the brain through the thalamus to the brain stem. That route of signaling increases the rate of noradrenergic activity in the locus ceruleus, and the person becomes alert and attentive to the environment. -Wikipedia article
Does this happen in your life? Of course it does! Everyday it happens! When that person cuts you off and then stares you down because they think that you got too close to them, what happens? When a bully starts to belittle you, how do you react?
When you go to get the mail, open the door, and realize that there is a Dolichovespula arenaria right next to your hand, what happens? You flight!
When you wake up in the morning, realize that there was a spider in your dream, proceed to wake up and get ready for the day, calmly do your morning stretches as you read a magazine, and a Pholcus phalangioides walks right in front of you while you’re sitting on the ground, what happens? You fight!
Yes, I lived it. Yes, you might also. The lesson to be learned is that sometimes you fight and sometimes you flight. It’s not always good to have a headstrong attitude in whatever you do. And it definitely doesn’t pay off to always be a sissy. It depends on the situation.