A few years ago I spent the winter in California. Some days, at my friend’s house, we’d leave the doors open and one day a little bird got in.
She was flying around distressed and then she flew into my friend’s bedroom as I went to put a doorstop in the door.
But when I went into my friend’s room, she wasn’t there. I looked and listened but nothing. Maybe she’d flown out of the door when I turned my back.
Finally, I got onto my hands and knees and looked under the bed and there she was: perfectly still, frozen, hiding from whom me.
And I had a sudden rush of compassion for myself. For all the times I’d felt frozen or blanked out and didn’t have anything to say.
I could see how freezing could actually save your life and how this little bird believed it would save hers.
I put my hand under the bed and she scurried out and flew out the front door, free.
And I realized that I could be free too.
If you sometimes find yourself frozen and your mind goes blank, you’re simply a mammal in a freeze response. Nothing has gone wrong.
And yes, you need to complete the stress cycle by moving your body or hugging your pet. But everything is okay.
You’re supposed to freeze sometimes. It’s a life-saving mammalian response to stress.
Put on Beyonce, move your body, complete the stress cycle and keep going.
Take the best possible care,
Bryn
P.S. As my clients learn to complete the stress cycle after each time they freeze, they end up easily finding their dream job or falling in love or quitting the job they hate and starting a business aligned with their purpose.
P.S.S. If you’re finding yourself frozen often and not knowing how to get out of it, I want to invite you to a free consultation.
We can set aside an hour just for you to look at where you are now, what dreams you have for your life and how reducing the amount of time you spend frozen can support you to move towards your dreams. Leave a reply to learn more about this.