How to Take Action When Things Go Wrong

"When things go wrong in our lives, we can experience stress, feeling a constant sense of threat that keeps us from solving our problems. In an emergency, this stress reaction can save our lives. The alarm center in our brains responds to a threat with the survival reaction of fight, flight, or freeze, causing us to take immediate action (LeDoux, 1996)."

"The stress reaction can prevent us from solving our problems in these three ways: Fight. We can go into attack mode, defending ourselves by blaming and attacking others for our problem instead of taking action to solve it. Flight. We can try to escape from the problem, for example, by retreating into binge-watching TV, scrolling through social media, or engaging in other distractions. But beneath the distractions, the problem remains unsolved."

When stress becomes chronic, the brain's alarm system keeps individuals focused on threat, narrowing awareness and limiting problem-solving options. The survival response of fight, flight, or freeze can manifest as blaming and attacking others, distracting avoidance through activities like binge-watching or social media, or immobilization and helplessness. Building hope requires shifting from reactive patterns to creative thinking by focusing on desired outcomes rather than problems. Active hope begins by asking "What would I like to see instead?" and is strengthened through setting clear goals, identifying pathways, and cultivating agency to pursue solutions.

Read at Psychology Today