In the most recent podcast episode, I began to highlight the importance of choosing our words wisely when discussing the mix of nature and nurture. It’s my belief that we will someday come to realize our rising numbers of addiction, depression, anxiety, and suicide are connected to the half-baked story we currently tell.
As so often happens, I had a shower thought last night that I believe adds more context to the discussion. This thought focused on the concept of fight or flight.
After getting the kids to bed, I headed to my desk and wrote the following:
Fight
Addressing an issue in our lives. We realize that engaging means we may succeed or fail. Either way, we come out of the fight with insight or lessons we carry forward. When we choose fight, depression and anxiety dissipate from our minds and our lives.
Flight
Avoiding an issue in our lives. We fear the engagement and the success or failure that may follow. We gain no new insight or lessons to carry forward. When we choose flight, depression and anxiety accelerate in our minds and our lives.
…And What They Mean to Our Lives
When I woke up this AM, I added to that word doc. This is the unedited version:
As our awareness of our world and all its challenges expands, a tremendous strain begins to be placed on our flight or fight mechanism. In reality, our primitive brains can likely fight just one battle at a time. We must choose a topic that presents a great opportunity and dive in deep. But that does nothing to quell the other voices. They are still there becoming louder and louder. They cry out for attention from us. “I’m next! Pick me” they shout. They wrestle with each other in an attempt to gain favor in our minds. They use any trick available to catch our glance for hope that we will make their resolution our next worthwhile journey. But we must never forget that we can only fight a single battle at a time. In the moment, nothing else matters. Each drop of attention going to these siren songs represents a win for flight as it forces us to avoid the primary issue at hand. We can choose just one battle at a time.
We must choose wisely, but also keep in mind that every second spent engaged in the selection process is more time spent in flight. We can become so wrapped up in making the perfect next choice that we become riddled with anxiety about what to do and depression over not being able to do them all. Remember, each choice will provide insight or a less. We learn and grow with both success and failure, so expedited growth requires maximum time spent in the fight.
I’ll continue to explore, write, and record on these topics I believe to be interlinked and in need of clearer communication to our society.
Let me know what you think. You can use the contact form found here.