People who are excellent in emergencies and fall apart during ordinary weeks aren't wired wrong. Their nervous system was calibrated for crisis, and calm registers as the absence of signal rather than the presence of safety. They function brilliantly when the house is burning because fire is the only temperature that feels familiar. - Silicon Canals

"Dr. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory proposed that the autonomic nervous system doesn't just toggle between fight-or-flight and rest. It has a third gear: a social engagement system."

"Calm doesn't land as relief for them. It lands as absence."

"The sympathetic branch is the accelerator, responsible for the fight-or-flight responses that prepare the body for action in response to perceived threats."

"In a healthy system, these two branches trade off smoothly. You encounter a stressor, the sympathetic system revs up, the threat passes, the parasympathetic system brings you back down."

The autonomic nervous system consists of two branches: the sympathetic, which triggers fight-or-flight responses, and the parasympathetic, which promotes recovery. In healthy individuals, these systems balance effectively. However, those raised in stressful environments may develop a pattern where they function well under pressure but struggle in calm situations. This phenomenon is explained by Dr. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory, which introduces a third system, the social engagement system, influencing how individuals react based on early life experiences.

Read at Silicon Canals