ReLearning Human

The fight response is the stress response where an individual’s body becomes prepared to fight a perceived threat.

The fight response may look like: clenched jaw, tight muscles, etc., intense anger, explosive reactions to something, and increased heart rate, faster breathing, etc.

If this sounds familiar, you can learn to cope with this by: deep breathing (i.e., square breathing), various grounding exercises, and physical activity (i.e., go for a walk, run, etc. to get your body moving).

But you don't have to do this work alone. If you're thinking of exploring therapy, you can connect with our therapists through the link in bio.

If you aren't ready to take this step yet, you can also visit the link in bio to access free mental health resources.

Grounding techniques can be useful tools at helping us to regulate ourselves when we are overwhelmed or anxious. Counting backwards from 100 can help with this as it shifts our focus from the cause(s) of our stress on to a mental challenge.

However, sometimes when we're trying to shift our mind's focus it can be difficult. If you find yourself missing numbers or stumbling, you can take notice, but don't get caught up on the mistakes. The goal isn't to do this perfectly, it's to shift your attention to something else so that you work on regulating yourself.

And you don't have to do this work alone. If you're thinking of exploring therapy, you can connect with our therapists through the link in bio.

If you aren't ready to take this step yet, you can also visit the link in bio to access free mental health resources.

When our body senses a threat, it tends to send off alarm bells to protect us from a perceived threat. The body aims to manage a threat, stop the threat, or remove itself from the threat so that you can return to a calmer state. The four stress responses include:

Fight: The body tries to face a perceived threat aggressively.

Flight: The body tries to deal with a perceived threat by running away.

Freeze: The body becomes unable to act against a perceived threat.

Fawn: The body aims to please a person to avoid conflict.

Learning about each of these stress responses can be key in learning how to manage and cope with them when they show up.

But you don't have to do this work alone. If you're thinking of exploring therapy, you can connect with our therapists through the link in bio.

If you aren't ready to take this step yet, you can also visit the link in bio to access free mental health resources.

Grounding practices like this one can help bring us back to the present by focusing on our breathing. When doing practices like this, it can be easy for our attention to sway on to a different sensation or something going on around us. If this happens, allow yourself space to notice it and bring your attention back to your breathing.

If you're feeling overwhelmed and want to explore therapy, connect with our therapists through the link in bio.

If you aren't ready to take this step yet, you can also visit the link in bio to access free mental health resources.