When working through your issues, it's essential to understand how things are connected to you internally versus externally. Regarding survival mode, that is housed in a section of our brain called the amygdala. In our day-to-day activities, we operate with our pre-frontal cortex but when we are triggered by a fear-inducing event then we begin to operate from our amygdala. Hopefully, this brief explanation helps you begin to understand the internal workings of how you might be impacted by things like trauma and anxiety.

There are going to be things that shake us up and throw us off but the goal should always be to get back on track. The things that we continue to push down will eventually make us deal with them. How that happens isn't always fun and sometimes it can't be prepared for but embracing the breaking is essential. Think about what your natural coping skills are currently. Are they healthy? Do they help you deal with your problems or do they help you avoid them? 

Part of healing is giving yourself a lot of room for grace and understanding. At no time in our life will we be perfect and always have a perfect reaction but we can learn to handle things differently. I hope you start to learn how to empower yourself and be give yourself compassion as you learn new ways to express yourself and your feelings. 

Have you ever heard the saying, "people who live in a glass house shouldn't throw stones"? What they mean is that, we can't be critical of others when we haven't taken the time to actually reflect on our own faults. None of us are perfect humans beings and so the beginning of this journey should be internal. Start to think about what areas or faults you have and then start to navigate differently. You may very well be the problem instead of it being other people.