“Fight or Flight”
As I was reading a book this saying came up “Fight or Flight”. It started to make me think how this can be applied to our everyday life. I’m a mother and with the tone of our country as of right now I find myself always having to explain something in the news to my daughter or teach her something based on what’s going on around us. One subject that I found that touched on this subject of “fight or flight” was teaching my daughter about giving and getting consent before touching or invading someone’s personal space. We have been talking about this subject due to several things in the news lately and I was explaining to her if someone disrespects you in anyway stand your ground speak up to not only that person but to others around you that might have witness it. We live in a time where people would rather witness and record than help and fight. I told my daughter to always speak up no matter the consequences or how scared you may be because must fight to be respected and running or “flight” from the problem will not solve it or teach the person to respect you in the future. As an parent also as a adult this “fight vs flight” lesson is hard to teach and even harder to do. How often as adults do, we take “flight” from a situation whether at work, our social life, family or out in the world because we are afraid of the outcome or reaction people will have. We are afraid to stand and fight for what we believe in because we don’t know what the outcome will be or if people will like us for our stand. I am always asked by friends, family members, and coworkers to fight (speak up) for them because I’m very strong willed and opinionated. Having someone fight your battles does nothing for you just teaches people you are weak and that they can take advantage of you when no one is around to fight for you.
We have arrived at this place of not fighting for our cause because the world today teaches us that fighting for what you believe or justice for yourself could cost you your career, money, your social status, your relationship and more. So many people are not willing to lose these things so they will allow people to treat them in any manner to hold on to things that mean so little when you have no respect or dignity. How many times in the media or in your life do you see someone accused of something and before the facts can be given and validated, we condemn them. I have witness people around me fight for what they believe in or fight to take a stand against an injustice just to be treated worst then the person/people that are causing the injustice. The world we live in today people like to believe in who is more popular or who has more social clout or more money. No one cares to wait for facts or evidence it’s like being in High School whoever is the most liked and has the most clout automatically gets the vote of being factual.
As people as mother and fathers as individuals we need to learn to stand our grounds and fight for what we believe in or what we want and teach our children to do the same. This means standing your ground no matter what the circumstance is whether it’s in public, work, social circles, family, religion etc.. We also need to learn to respect others fight. We don’t all have to be the same or believe in the same thing, but we do have to learn to respect others fight. Stop condemning people because you don’t understand, never been through, or can’t understand their fight. Instead try asking questions and learning and try to understand why this person is fighting, why this person feels the way they do, and how did things get to this point. Running (flight) from your problems will only cause more problems and before you realize it your problems are bigger than you can sometimes fight. So, learn to have “Fight vs Flight” in life. Side note the book I read that this thought grew from was “The Darkest Child” by Delores Phillips. It’s a great read and will inspire you to fight and stand for the things that life throws at you.
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