Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn — Know Your Default Stress Response

Under threat, your nervous system doesn't stop to ask what you'd prefer. It picks a survival strategy: fight (confront the threat), flight (escape it), freeze (go still), or fawn (appease to stay safe). Most people lean heavily on one of these without realizing it. Knowing your default — "I tend to freeze" or "I tend to people-please under stress" — is the first real step toward choosing differently. You can't override a pattern you haven't named.