When your body didn’t have a chance to complete the appropriate responses (fight/flight/freeze/shutdown), you will keep these incomplete responses “locked in” your system, perpetuating “outdated” and unhelpful patterns.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls an array of bodily processes such as digestion, heart rate, respiration, temperature, secretion and many others important functions.

When the ANS is dysregulated it plays havoc with your physical, mental and emotional health.

Unprocessed fight/flight/freeze/shutdown responses that get “stuck” in the nervous system is one of the major reasons for dysregulation.

This often happens when you go through long periods of chronic stress, early childhood difficulties and even traumas in adolescence and adult life.

When your body didn’t have a chance to complete the appropriate responses (fight/flight/freeze/shutdown). You will keep these incomplete responses “locked in” your system, perpetuating “outdated” and unhelpful patterns.

This way you are either constantly, unconsciously, avoiding situations that trigger these old responses or you are reacting in unhelpful ways or/and overacting.

It takes a lot of energy to operate from this self protective pattern. Energy you could be using elsewhere, such as being creative and enjoying life.

When you get to this point of overwhelm your nervous system often can get activated very easily, even when the situation doesn’t warrant such activation. You know you don’t want to act in such way, but you can’t help it.

A resilient nervous system has the flexibility to activate just enough energy to deal with any given situation and then it comes back into homeostasis with flexibility and ease.

A resilient system is what enables you to make decisions while not giving in to external and internal pressure. In this way you can face life’s challenges with confidence.