Welcome to the PIC

Revival Podcast.

My name is Vesta.

Today I'm gonna talk about

how to get out of survival

mode and why it's important in

order to have a better life.

So being in survival

mode is a term used to

describe a part of the

nervous system response.

So we've got the sympathetic

and the parasympathetic.

So it's two divisions

of the nervous system.

And when we're in that

sympathetic response, it's

the stress response, also

known as if you've been in

there for a long time as

being in survival mode.

And that can occur due

to what's happening

in our life and what's

happening in our mind.

So a lot of our thinking can.

Trip us up into being

into that stress response.

So when we're in survival

mode and when our system's

in sympathetic dominance,

our body is trying to

survive a life threatening

situation, which is

what it thinks, right?

Something that it deems

as being, dangerous or

threatening to our life, and

that trips up the fight or

flight response and we start

to have a reaction from that.

So when we're in this

response, we are not

thriving, we're surviving.

Okay?

And so people can stay stuck

here for a long time, for

many years, not feeling

real joy and excitement and

pleasure in their life, but

it can also make you sick.

So being in this high stress

survival mode or sympathetic

dominance, it leads to

elevation in adrenaline and

cortisol as stress hormones,

but also changes other

hormones like progesterone,

which is our natural

anti-anxiety antidepressant.

It also affects glucose

and insulin, so we get

more cravings, we get a

rollercoaster of energy,

we get belly fat, weight

gain, and it leads to

metabolic issues as well.

It also breaks down the gut.

It breaks down

liver detox pathway.

It affects the thyroid so

much because this survival

mode hijacks the system.

So when our bodies in this

state, it doesn't think

that digestion is important.

It doesn't think

that our reproductive

system is important.

So balancing our hormones,

falling pregnant,

digesting food, all

of that stuff is not.

Important when we're in a

life threatening situation.

So as you can imagine,

when we're in this survival

mode, a lot of these

important processes in the

body are not happening.

And so we start to

get sick and our body

starts to break down.

So it's kind of like the

system is hijacked, right?

It's hijacked just to do

what's important to help

you survive this life

threatening situation.

And like I said, we are mostly

tripping up this sympathetic.

Response or this

survival mode through

our day-to-day thinking.

So what's happening in our

head that noisy chatter,

is often tripping up our

fight or flight response.

So when we look at

stress, like a little

bit of stress is good.

Okay.

And I think, you know, even

I talk about the negative

effects of stress it tends

to be what we focus on, but

there is a positive side.

So a little bit of

pressure, a little bit of

stress helps to enhance

our performance, right?

We get better brain

power, better memory.

Better focus and learning.

We get more fuel for

energy and so much more.

So a little bit of stress

helps to prime our body for

better levels of performance.

So I was, you know, doing a

workshop the other day and I

said, you know, like when I

run these things, if I don't

feel a little bit of nerves,

I don't have the energy

that comes with it, right?

It's almost like my body

is prepping for the event.

And if sometimes I'm like,

ah, I can't be bothered,

I don't really feel like

doing this, I'm not going

to get the energy right?

And so.

A little bit of that

stress, a little bit

of that nervous energy,

whatever you wanna call

it, helps to prime our body

for performance.

But as soon as we shift from

moderate stress to kind of

high levels of pressure and

high stress, we get a lot

of shift in our brain and in

our hormones, and it moves us

away from optimal performance

and starts to drop our

performance and productivity.

So basically what we find

is our brain power drops.

We don't have the

mental clarity.

We get really tunnel vision,

so we can't decipher.

What is important and what

is irrelevant, and it's the

worst time to make decisions.

It's the worst time to

make judgements because

of that tunnel vision.

And the stress hormone

is really taking our

prefrontal cortex offline.

This is our processing center,

and so we move away from

this optimal performance

or prime for action, and

we move towards avoidance.

We move towards the

freeze response.

And this is more so

if we've been in this

stage for a long time.

So when we look at

stress, stress shifts

our brain from, you know,

the prefrontal cortex.

So this is the, in the

frontal brain, we get

executive functioning.

We're rational,

we're decisive.

We know how to calm

ourselves down.

We know how to make decisions,

we know what we need to do.

But stress pushes us into the

amygdala part of our brain.

And this is where we

get strong emotions.

we don't have clarity

about what's happening.

And the amygdala is there

because it's designed

to detect threats

in our environment.

Okay?

so it's a very normal part

of our human existence, but.

We can often trip up the

amygdala with our own

thinking and with with our

own worries, and keep us in

a perpetual state of stress.

So when we think of the

amygdala, and I talked

about this in a previous

episode, that the amygdala

works to detect threats

in our environment.

And so if you are walking

later at night down the

street and your amygdala sees

a shadow in the corner, it

will already activate your

defense responses and then.

What happens is the

prefrontal cortex, you know,

kind of scans and says,

everything's all right.

There's nothing to worry

about here, calm down.

But when we're in higher

states of stress, the

prefrontal cortex is shut

down, that rational part.

And so we have the amygdala

just yelling all day long.

Okay.

And just activating just

more and more stress.

And with that, we really

see a hormonal shift.

Okay?

We see our cortisol levels

rising, which frees up energy,

but it makes us more anxious,

makes us more tense, and

makes us less responsive.

So one of the things that

I look at when I'm working

with clients is they can

be stuck in survival mode

and everything's all about

work and success and drive.

And maybe it's about

making more money, maybe

it's about achieving more.

And we tend to have our

focus on the things that

bring us some kind of

satisfaction, but not

really a lot of fulfillment.

And so when I work with

clients, and even within my

programs, I ask women to do a

life balance assessment and.

What it is, it's basically

looking at all these different

areas of your life to see

where your focus is, where

you are losing energy, where

you are not focused at all.

And one of the things that

they notice is that as they're

going through it, some women

will notice, you know what,

I have a lot of focus and I

spend a lot of energy on my

career or my business, or.

You know what I'm creating

in my business, or I

spend a lot of focus and

energy on my children,

or I spend a lot of focus

on whatever it is, right?

And so as they go

through that, they really

see the gaps, right?

That their life is not

balanced because every part of

our life should be medicine.

For us, it should be a

sense of fulfillment.

We, you know, we obviously,

we can get fulfillment

in our work and in our

families, but we want to

look at, well, where are

those areas of our life that.

Are not fulfilling, that we're

not getting any energy from,

or we're not even spending

any time thinking about it.

So a few of the areas that we

talk about is looking at work.

Is your work fulfilling or

does it just pay the bills?

can there be a way that

it is fulfilling because

it has to pay the bills?

You know, there is a way

at looking at your work

as being able to provide

fulfillment as well.

What is your purpose?

What are you here for?

What do you feel called

to do in this life?

What do you feel like

you are here for?

What is the thing that

you feel like you can

bring to the world?

Because a sense of purpose

is probably the one of the

most fulfilling things that

we have in our life, and if

we aren't focused on what

we feel our purpose is, we

are going to miss that level

of fulfillment, which gives

us a lot of drive and it

gives us a lot of energy.

The other things that we

look at is relationships,

creativity, physical

health, and mental health.

So they're just some

of the things, but we

wanna look at everything.

How much time are you

spending in creativity?

How are you looking after

your physical health?

What are you doing to look

after your mental health?

A lot of this stuff we

think would just happen

as we go, but we're not

putting any focus or energy

towards it or putting any

habits in place or taking

any time to consider it.

When women go through this

assessment, it's quite a long

one that I get them to do.

But you could just do one

now as I'm speaking to you.

Like, where is

your focus on work?

Where is your

focus on purpose?

Where is your focus

on your relationship?

What about your creativity,

your physical health,

your mental health?

How much time are

you spending, looking

after those areas?

Right?

And so what I find is that

women spend about two hours

going through this and it's.

Really important exercise

because they walk away from

it and go, wow, it's, my

life is really unbalanced.

Okay?

I am really focused 80%

in one area and maybe 20%

spread across the others,

and therefore it doesn't

add the joy to life.

It doesn't bring the medicine

that we can get from all of

those things in our life, and

it doesn't bring fulfillment.

So, as you've listened to

this, I want you to let

me know in the comments

below what has kind

of popped up for you.

Where do you really spend a

lot of your time and focus

and energy and what's lacking?

What's the first thing

that popped into your mind?

What's really lacking?

Because it's gonna be

important for you to identify.

Let me know in the

comments below.