Brixham Community Church Podcast

Fight or flight Walking home from school as a child I saw up ahead some older youths blocking my path. As I got nearer, I saw that they were deliberately causing an obstruction and looking directly at me. I was little. They were big. I didn’t know them, and I don’t think they knew me. But for some reason – they were probably just bored and wanted to have some fun scaring a little kid – they chose to be very intimidating. If I ran away, I’d be further from home. If I chose to fight, I’d not survive. We are told that when under pressure there are generally two alternatives - fight or flight. We all have moments of pressure in our lives, the washing machine breaks down and you can’t afford to get it fixed, a loved one is rushed into hospital, someone keeps intimidating you. Are you the sort of person to get aggressive and confrontational, or do you hide behind the sofa? Is your instinct to run from trouble or attack? While I was confronted with this group of youths, I didn’t know about the fight of flight op