Freeze Up - Tumblr Posts

Stress

Imagine for a moment that you're a shark.

Legends say that a shark will stop breathing if it stops moving. (That's not entirely true, but let's assume it is for illustration's sake.) You, the shark, are heading toward another location, perhaps a reef, to find food.

Now, imagine that the water around you starts to become thicker - more viscous. It becomes harder to swim, and in turn harder to breathe - which itself also makes it harder to swim. Each in turn compounds the other until you have to fight to swim each and every inch. All you can think of is that you need to reach your destination; it's right there, just keep going...! But your pace has slowed to a crawl.

That, to me, is stress. I start to freeze up whenever people put pressure on me. I can't think straight; fear takes me over, and I can only think of the consequences of failure. If I can't think, I can't formulate a plan - and I can't succeed, resulting in more stress. It's the worst kind of downward spiral.

But, going back to the shark, there's a little more to it. Let's say the water returns to its normal state. The shark won't automatically speed up and keep going. It has to recover first, to gradually pick up the energy and drive to move again. Soon it is going at full speed once more - but not immediately.

Even when the source of stress goes away, for me, the internal pressure has not. The relief hasn't set in. I'm still irritated, short-tempered, or burdened until I've had time to be alone or otherwise recover. I don't know why, but I've had limited success explaining this to people I know; I'm under the impression that it's not a common problem.

For some people, working under stress gives them more energy and motivation. I guess I'm just not built like that.