Introduction to your body's natural stress response:

Your body's stress response keeps you safe. Your brain takes note of everything you perceive, consciously or not, and pays very close attention to anything that is threatening or dangerous. The bigger the threat, the more vividly your brain remembers it. We did not come into the world knowing what is safe, unsafe, or anything in between. It is the intensity of emotional memories, that gauge our responses in the present. Here are some examples of what this may look like:

The first time you fell on the ice, your emotional brain took note so that anytime in the future when approaching ice, the alarm bells go off in your mind, to bring your attention to the danger to remind you to be cautious.

The first time you weren't paying attention and had to slam on your brakes to stop your car, your emotional brain took note, to make you focus more when you're driving in similar conditions.
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The first time you got into a car accident, your emotional brain took note of that increased danger, and may bring up anxiety for you when you drive or are a passenger. You may even develop a driving phobia.

If a loud noise was connected to an experience that was dangerous for you or others, you may react disproportionately to loud noises.

If you were yelled at for making a mistake, you may develop anxiety about making mistakes, or angrily defend yourself if criticized.

If you got in trouble for being late, you may feel stressed about deadlines.

If you were bullied by a group, you may develop anxiety around people. You may actively avoid crowds. You may perceive judgment when there is none, because your emotional brain is hypervigilant for any similar threat.

You cannot outthink the initial reaction of this part of the brain...a mechanism which is necessary for our survival. If your sensory systems perceive a car speeding toward you, you want your stress response to kick in instantly and move you out of the way. You don't have time to think about it. By the time your higher rational brain understands what's going on, it's too late. We don't want to rely on that part of the brain to keep us safe by pondering, "Hmm, there seems to be a car approaching quickly. I wonder if I should jump out of the way."

Here is another example that most people can relate to. The stress response is part of your fight-or-flight system which is on a spectrum. On the far end, are your innate responses, such as when you are relaxing and out of the corner of your eye, you see a spider near your face - your automatic reaction is to jump, before you are consciously aware of it.

Sometimes this occurs, and when your higher brain has had the time to decode the visual data, you may realize it is just a piece of fuzz. This is the same mechanism that makes cats jump when they see a snake...or a cucumber (check out youtube for countless cats-jumping-at-cucumbers videos). This means that while they keep us safe, our automatic reactions are not reliable predictors of danger. This is where problems can arise.

If you were squished in a crowd or bullied by a group of people, your emotional brain took note and will initiate a stress response around being in a crowd. This can turn into avoidance, and the thought, "Crowds are not safe." If you are not thinking about your thinking, you may start to believe, "I can't be around any crowds," and you may avoid being around other people at all.

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