1714 || "thawing out" from a freeze state

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Welcome to the Make Your Dan Bed Podcast, a daily motivation podcast designed to help you get

out of bed every morning with a little company for me, Julie America. If you struggle with

consistency, let's build a little momentum together, whether you make your bed or not.

Good morning sunshine. Welcome to another day of the Make Your Dan Bed Podcast.

Today, I'm bringing you acicentral.com article. This one is titled The Science Behind

Anxiety Paralysis and What to Do. This article was written by Hillary,

Libo, and you can find the original in the show notes if you're interested.

And it she's talking about how paralysis is one of the ways that our bodies respond to stress.

As the author puts it, living with anxiety engages your autonomic nervous system,

also known as your fight flight or freeze response. The freeze response can feel like paralysis,

whether it's physical, emotional, or cognitive. If you're feeling this way, nothing is wrong with you.

This is a natural response, but it is possible to manage it. Under high stress,

your amygdala, your brain's fire alarm, as she calls it, signals to your hippothalamus to create

stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. This activates the freeze response.

Clinical psychologist Gabby Boulsell says,

the danger feels so high, it goes beyond our capacity to tolerate the stress. So,

it's like our nervous system goes offline or shuts down. We're able to survive, but not fully

function. And she compares it to how animals often play dead when they are under threat.

For some people, it can physically paralyze certain parts of your body, whether you have

heaviness in your arms or you're unable to move them at all. Maybe your legs feel stuck

in place and you can't walk away. Or your brain stops producing words and you have difficulty

finding what to say. For some people, it's a cognitive thing where you can't really process

any incoming information. You are simply focused on survival or the last thought.

In addition to some physical symptoms, anxiety can also be emotionally paralyzing.

It can keep you from moving forward in specific areas of your life.

This could manifest as a comorbid condition or a relational style in some cases.

Some of the examples they've included are agoraphobia, which is the fear of leaving your home,

health anxiety, which might prevent you from going to doctor's appointments,

or it may manifest as driving anxiety, which may prevent you from seeing your loved ones.

It also often manifests as a fear of intimacy with others.

There are many possible scenarios, but those are just a few common examples.

But what about decision paralysis? Also known as analysis paralysis. This is not a formal diagnosis,

but it could fall under the umbrella of anxiety symptoms. There was some research done in 2021

that suggests that the freeze response might be an evolutionary adaptation to help you gather

more information and prepare for later action. When you feel stuck about a choice, it signals that

you are in fight or flight, and all non-essential systems shut down. Once your nervous system is

calmer, your higher mind, like your prefrontal cortex, will have a chance to re-engage so you can

come to more rational conclusions. But until then, it's kind of impossible. And I think something

that's been helpful for me to remember when I experienced this is that my brain is just trying

to keep me safe. And I need to stop being so hard on myself for shutting down, or not reacting

in the best possible way for myself, because the best possible way for me to react or show up

is going to vary day to day. I can't remember the exact quote, and I can't seem to find it now,

but it was basically something along the lines of, if you get caught in a rainstorm,

you don't come in the house and expect to be warm and dry right away. You know it takes time

to recover. So why on earth do you think you should recover so quickly from depression or from a

rainstorm in your life? You need to treat yourself with dignity, and that means allowing time to

thought out. I like to remind myself that there will always be seasons of nourishing, where I need

more nourishment, and then there will be seasons of flourishing. It goes along with my garden analogy

where some seasons are for like dying off and picking out weeds, and other seasons are for a

lot of waiting and resting and just feeling like nothing is happening. And then occasionally you

get a really good harvest season, and that's good, and you should lean into that. But you can't

expect constant harvests. Expecting constant harvests will lead you to turmoil. So recently,

especially, I've been benefiting from the reminder that there is a thought period.

Quoting the article again, when you are ready to thaw out from a freeze, a combination of

approaches may help. The first of which is diaphragmatic breathing. Deep belly breathing engages your

parasympathetic nervous system, also known as your rest and digest state. We've talked about box

breathing on the podcast before, but it's the inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four,

and hold for four. Quoting licensed clinical social worker Victoria Smith, she says,

our breath is the most direct tool to connecting with our nervous system. I often practice breathing

exercises with clients who are outside of their window of tolerance. But what is the window of

tolerance? That is the zone where you can experience emotions and still manage them.

Quote, once the threshold of our window of tolerance has been crossed, our rational minds take a back seat.

And our survival responses take over. Another suggested grounding exercise is the 5-4-3-2-1

technique where you name five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can

hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. The next suggestion is bilateral stimulation,

which engages both sides of your brain. Smith suggests a tapping exercise where you place your

left hand on your right shoulder and right hand on your left shoulder and slowly alternate tapping

each hand. Notice the sensations in your body and practice tapping until you feel more grounded.

Mindfulness practices can also help you stay in the moment. These ideas are like breathwork or

forest bathing or gardening or meditation or Tai Chi. I personally try to opt for things that

engage both my body and my mind. A color hunt while I'm on a walk, solving a math problem while

I'm in the shower, counting how many beads I have left in my beating project. Those sorts of things

that are both tangible physically and tangible mentally can help. Quote Courtney burns a licensed

therapist. It is also important to practice all of these grounding skills during times when we're

not activated. That way, when we're flooded with adrenaline or cortisol, we can access those

grounding exercises more easily because we've done them before. According to Dr. Peter Levine,

wild animals shake off distressing experiences after being frozen in their fear response or playing

dead. You might find it helpful to incorporate similar practices into your routine. Quote physical

movement is like dance. Shaking and yoga can also help address the central nervous system response.

I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times. There's a reason that dancing is

popular in every single culture since the dawn of humanity. Another suggestion is formal therapy,

which can help you safely explore your triggers and build distress tolerance. Intense stress

responses could result from past traumas and working to heal that might help you build coping

mechanisms or help you reconnect with your body and learn how to soothe yourself

in a more productive way. Quote, anxiety paralysis is real. Your experiences are valid.

The freeze response can manifest as physical symptoms, emotional challenges, and difficulty

making decisions. But there is hope. Lifestyle changes, finding professional support, and practicing

grounding exercises when you're in fight or flight and after can help pave the neural pathways

so you can become more and more proficient and finding your way out. As always, you can access the

resources I referenced in the show notes if you're interested. In the meantime, just know I love you

so much. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I will talk to you tomorrow while you make

your damn bed. Goodbye, cutie. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Make Your

Damn Bed Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss tomorrow's episode. You can follow

on Instagram and TikTok at NYDB Podcast for occasional updates. And if you could rate and review

this episode five stars wherever you're listening, it genuinely helps the podcast at its core.

And if you have anyone in your life you think might be interested in hearing what I have had to say,

it also makes a huge difference in the sustainability and my ability to make this something worth

sharing. So if you have questions or want specific advice, you can email me at nydbpodcast

at gmail.com. In the meantime, I've been your host, Julie America. I hope you have a wonderful

rest of your day and I'll talk to you tomorrow while you make your damn bed.

With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the capital one bank guy is so

passionate about banking with capital one. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees

or minimums. He'd also talk about how most capital one cafes are open seven days a week to

assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital one dot com slash bank capital one

and a member FDIC. Black beans, Roman beans, Groovy and beans. You are all about those

Goya beans, huh? Let's just say your motto at home is yeah, beans again. Red beans,

Pinto beans. Perfect for some chili. White beans. Those in a soup. Cannellini beans. Great

on salads. And garbanzo beans. With these, I make an epicumus. Everything sounds really good.

With so many options, why not Goya beans again and again and again? Find them in the Goya section

of your local grocery store. If it's Goya, it has to be good.