Fear and Excitement Feel the Same
Your brain is amazing! Its superpower is keeping you alive, but sometimes the way it does that is not beneficial to you as a modern human.
Back in the day when our ancestors lived in caves, change was this horrible terrible potentially life-threatening thing because if you moved into a new cave you might be sharing it with a sabertooth tiger which meant you wouldn't be sharing it for long. You don't need to worry about apex predators on a daily basis, why does it feel like you are being chased by something all the time?
Because that's what your brain is programmed to do! The ancient part of your brain stops you from doing anything that's potentially scary or dangerous before your rational mind can jump in and say, “hey! no, this is actually safe.” What do you do when this part of your brain that's so freaking scared all the time is stopping you from doing the things you want most?
Flip the emotion.
What?!
Fear and Excitement feel the SAME in your body. Both make you sweat, increase your heart rate, and pump up your adrenaline.
This means you get a choice:
Do you want to feel fear or excitement that you joined an online bookclub with a bunch of strangers?
Do you want to feel fear or excitement when you apply for a new job?
Do you want to feel fear or excitement that your kid started a new school?
You’re giving me scrunchy face right now because you're thinking “What?! How can I choose my emotions, they pop up. The way I respond, is how I respond.”
That’s a normal reaction and if you’re feeling confused, you’re in good company. I was confused on this not long ago.
This is a new way of thinking about something that's so automatic in your brain and body that it doesn't feel like it's a choice at all.
I’m going to repeat that.
➡️ This is a new way of thinking about something that's so automatic in your brain and body that it doesn't feel like it's a choice at all.
The truth: you have a choice every single time, whether you want something to feel scary or exciting. Whether you want something to feel like a good thing or terrible thing.
Now I'm not comparing this to situations in your life where something tragic or extreme happened. I'm talking more about your day to day interactions and the things that you aspire to do.
You want to carve out more time to journal, write, or get up early so you can work out and take a yoga class.
The automatic habitual parts of your brain are what's keeping you stuck in old habits.
Your brain prioritizes the things that keep you alive: breathing, eating, sleeping.
If you wake up hella tired, you have to work so much harder to get past that part of your brain that wants you to survive.
The survival part of your brain says you are too tired to run away from a saber tooth tiger, therefore we're going to stay in bed and sleep. That's what your brain is doing!
I'm not saying that we shouldn't get enough sleep, we are sleep deprived as a society. What I'm saying is it's more of a choice than you realize.
If you got 5 hours of interrupted sleep, yes please sleep in. Your body needs more sleep.
If you got 7 hours and feel a little groggy cuz you had a glass of wine last night, you're probably okay to get up and work out and you'll feel more awake after you work out too.
Use your rational brain just a little bit more, tap into your intuition, and use context clues from your own life to decide on the emotion that you want to feel.
Journaling Prompt: What new choice do you want to make this week?
Kerstin Phillips is a Life Coach, Yoga Instructor, and Journaling Coach who helps women with ADHD reclaim their time, set non negotiable boundaries, and ditch the shame-guilt-doubt cycle.
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