You know you have done something wrong when your boss eyed you shrewdly as he entered the room. You knew it! Your guts told you to skip the office today for no reason at all. So this is it, another opportunity for your boss to belittle you, and your accomplishments. You hate this feeling. It just entered your mind, what if you just tell your boss straight in the face what a user he is? On second thoughts, why not just get the hell out of the office and escape whatever it is?
This scenario is a person's response to stress, also called the fight or flight response. This was the theory espoused by Walter Cannon, who said that there are two choices in the face of danger. Fight or face the risk, or flight and avoid the risk.
The body's basic response to stress is significant in how a person protects himself from perceived treats. It measures a person's chances for survival when faced with danger or a potentially dangerous situation. A person can either face the stress and fight back, or retreat and take flight.
The fight or flight syndrome is a person's reaction to stressful circumstances, even in the ordinary course of his life. Such reactions or choices, is inherent to man's fight for survival. It must have been rooted in man's need for survival as he evolved from a caveman hunting for his food to a techno man faced with the challenges of the modern world.
A man's fight or flight reaction is stimulated the moment he is faced with a potentially dangerous situation. The smell of danger keeps the adrenaline rushing through one's veins, until one feels that all his blood vessels have been dilated and the blood all rushing to his neck and to his head. He is trembling, and his legs shaking! At this stage, a man reacts; he can either become aggressive and face the danger, or be passive and retreat, to prepare his fight for another day.
Once this reaction is activated, a man becomes sensitive to his surroundings, perceiving everyone as his enemy. While the fight or flight reaction open up two choices to man, it deprives him of his reasoning. What matters now is his survival, and he will choose the best option which will enable him to survive.
A person whose fight or flight reaction is active, takes everything said to him in this context. Such a man becomes less rational, more cynical and reactionary. Every word spoken to him can have as many meaning as possible, and his action would be determined by his interpretation of such words.
The principle that an angry man should not make decisions while he is still angry and without waiting for several hours to wipe away his anger can also apply to the fight or flight scenario, albeit in a different way. A man facing stress or danger could not wait for the risk to pass him by as opposed to the angry man, because it might mean life or death, extinction or survival, for him.
A person who is faced with a stressful circumstance makes a decision without considering the long term effects of his decision. He is concerned with the present situation no matter if his decision will have adverse decision later on. For as long as he could ensure his survival now, nothing else matters. A man constantly exposed to these situations will surely suffer burnout and fatigue sooner or later.
Allowing one's self to become exposed to fight or flight situations regularly can be stressful and dangerous to one's health. It can backlash and lead to heart ailments, migraines and soaring blood pressure. A person faced with this situation is always irritable and have no more time to enjoy life, much more his family and friends.
There are persons who are not really faced with actual threats, but they nevertheless experience the fight or flight syndrome. These are persons who suffer from phobia, or anxiety disorders, or fear of not being able to survive an emergency.
The lesson learned here is that, no matter what you fear, the more you think of it, and the more you get agitated. The more you panic and experience those fight or flight reactions. Before it develop\s into something serious like a nervous breakdown, you have to take stock of yourself and recognize your fears. This way, you will be able to see situations for what they really are.
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