What your body is trying to tell you through fight, flight, and freeze
Have you ever reacted in a way that surprised even you?
Maybe you snapped at someone you care about, avoided something important, or felt like your body just shut down.
You might have thought, “Why did I do that?”
The answer often lies in your nervous system.
You are not overreacting. You are not too sensitive. You are not broken.
You’re responding the way your system learned to survive.
Your Nervous System Is Always Responding
Your nervous system is constantly scanning for safety or threat, often without you even realising it.
It doesn’t ask, “Is this logical?”
It responds based on what feels familiar, often rooted in past experiences that shaped how safe or unsafe certain situations feel.
And that response shows up in real, everyday ways.
Let’s explore how Fight, Flight, and Freeze responses might show up in your daily life, not because of what’s happening now, but because of what your body has learned to expect based on past overwhelm or challenge.
FIGHT – Pushing Back to Stay Safe
The Fight response isn’t always loud or aggressive.
It’s an internal shift, preparing you to stand your ground.
Real-Life Signs of Fight:
- Snapping at someone over something small
- Feeling constantly irritated or needing to be “right”
- Tight jaw, clenched fists, shoulders up by your ears
- Feeling a surge of energy when you’re challenged
Fight is how your nervous system protects you by pushing back when something feels threatening inside.
FLIGHT – Escaping What Feels Too Much
Flight energy is fast, busy, and driven by restlessness.
Internally, it feels like urgency or the need to “get away”, even if there’s nowhere to go.
Real-Life Signs of Flight:
- Constant busyness, unable to rest
- Overcommitting or saying yes out of fear
- Racing thoughts that won’t settle
- Avoiding emails, calls, or tasks that feel overwhelming
Flight is how your nervous system responds by creating distance from what feels like too much to handle.
FREEZE – Shutting Down to Survive
Freeze is stillness, but it’s not calm, it’s a sense of disconnection.
Internally, it’s as if everything slows down or stops to avoid further overwhelm.
Real-Life Signs of Freeze:
- Numbness or disconnection from your body
- Feeling stuck, foggy, or unable to make decisions
- Overwhelmed to the point of inaction
- Struggling to get out of bed, even when you want to
Freeze is how your nervous system protects you by pausing everything, creating a sense of safety through stillness.
These Are Not Flaws, They’re Protections
Each of these responses is a part of your system doing what it learned to do in response to past experiences that once felt overwhelming.
✨ These responses are not the problem.
✨ They are signs your nervous system has been trying to keep you safe.
Awareness Brings Choice
When you begin to spot these states in real life, you can:
- Pause, rather than react
- Get curious, rather than judge
- Offer yourself compassion, rather than criticism
You don’t need to fix your nervous system.
You need to understand it.
You’re not stuck.
You’re starting to see.
