As your mind races through all these situations, it sends signals to your body that you’re in danger. Your body reacts. Your heart beats faster, your breath gets shallow, and digestion gets thrown off. You might wonder why this is happening and whether you’re the only one who feels like they are consistently on the verge of panic. Here’s the deal, though. You’re not living the hunter-gatherer life anymore. There’s no giant animal chasing you down. The problem is that your body often mistakes your boss, colleague, or bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way to work for a tiger, and naturally, it reacts in the same way it would have thousands of years ago. And even if there was a tiger chasing you in 2019, you’re meant to stay in sympathetics for only a few minutes at a time. The tiger approaches, you make your move, get to safety, and then rest. You’re not meant to stay in this fight-or-flight mode for extended periods of time. When you do, you start to experience the consequences in the form of adrenal fatigue, obesity, insomnia, and anxiety. So, how do you tell your body it’s safe? Follow these three steps: When you follow these three steps, a few things will happen. First, you’ll respond better to the situation. This is because you’ve shifted from a reactionary response to a place of intention. This’ll definitely help your relationships. Second, you’ll improve your health. By giving your body a chance to rest and recover, you’ll see improvements in your sleep, digestion, and mood. And that’s something to look forward to!
