Post by ChillyMcFreeze on Jul 20, 2012 22:21:35 GMT -5
My first instinct is to freeze and cover my head, but then I switch to fight pretty fast. I've clocked DH at least once... it's really out of character for me.
You know, I'm really not sure. I startle and jump really easily, and twitch my way through haunted houses, and I don't really make noise in that situation. However, if I catch a spider crawling on me there is squealing, limb flailing, and general freaking out. But I also did a high impact karate for a number of years, and one day a dumb shit co-worker grabbed me in a bear hug from behind and I immediately planted my feet and was getting ready to trap his arms and scoop kick his junk when he let go, hopped back, and started immediately apologizing. Idiot.
Flight for sure. One time in the dead of night my wife and I were woken by a horribly load crashing noise. I immediately jumped out of bed and ran into our closet. Our two 70+lb dogs followed. Of course it's not rational to run into a smaller room with no exit but I seriously thought someone was breaking in downstairs. Well when my wife returns from checking things out (she's a fighter) she finds me in the bathroom with the dogs. Why? Because when I jumped out of bed so quickly I became nauseated so I left the closet and went to hide in the bathroom in case I puked. My wife is still pissed that I left her fight alone. Oh and turns out no one was breaking in, a couple shelves just fell off a wall.
In accident type situations though I'm calm and rational.
sent from phone
ETA - DD was not born yet when this happend. Now when something weird happens in the house, her room is the first place I run to.
Post by One Girl In All The World on Jul 21, 2012 6:21:21 GMT -5
Depends. Haunted house fuckery- I'm jumpy and shriek like a little kid.
Other stuff I think fight or action. One night when I was about 7 mos pregnant with ds the fire alarm for our apartment building went off. I don't fuck around when it comes to a possible fire so I shot right out of bed and started yelling at dh to get up. Hengetsnup and starts fanning the loudspeaker for the alarm, thinking it was our over sensitive smoke alarm for our specific unit, while I'm trying to get his damn ass out the door.
The only common denominator among things I'm thinking of that could startle me (people, animals, haunted houses) is that I definitely do not run and I do not fight. I get paralyzed with fear. Not good. My heart races, I jump, I sweat, and I shriek. I get startled very very easily.
H doesn't really do flight or fight- he just jumps into action. My assumption is that after years of running into fiery buildings, not a whole lot scares him. One moment I'm specifically thinking of, we had both fallen asleep in our living room, and must not have latched our front door tightly. Around 3 am, during a storm, our front door slammed open (apparently from the wind). H woke up immediately, and before he even let out his "Son Of A Bitch", he was at the front door, slamming it closed, locking it and turning on all the lights in the house to make sure no one had come in.
I fight. H learned quickly not to sneak up on me, as I punch and kick. H has learned that if he gets called out in the a.m. at his volunteer dept, not to come up to the bedroom. I scream and lash out if he wakes me up by touching me.
I also was at a dog park when some asshole dog attempted to attack Allie. I had no qualms about putting myself between that dog and mine, which included my getting bit and having to go to Urgent Care- so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't put my child down and run away.
Post by lyssbobiss, Command, B613 on Jul 21, 2012 8:39:01 GMT -5
I scream gibberish and throw the nearest object. Which I hope in the future is never Babycakes. You'll see my picture in the paper. Local woman get scared of spider, throws three-year old at it.
"This prick is asking for someone here to bring him to task Somebody give me some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him I'll pull the trigger on it, someone load the gun and cock it While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket."
The few times I have been in real danger, I got very calm and felt like I could see the clearest / best options. Then I took them. One time, that meant running because I was threatened by more than I could handle, another time that meant to fight. But my usual response to other peoples disasters, car crashes, tornadoes etc is to help, even though, intellectually, I know I probably shouldn't. Wife says I should be a cop, and I might do that.
Depends. When I'm startled, like if one of our boys jumps out at me from behind a door or something (yes, they do that), I jump and shriek. In a terror (like haunted house terror) type situation I panic, start crying, and break for the nearest exit, shoving aside anyone and anything in my path. In emergency situations I go into autopilot and do what needs to be done.
I'd like to think I'd do the autopilot thing if someone were shooting at me, but in truth I'd probably do the crying-running-quickly-getting-taken-out thing.
Post by lissaholly on Jul 21, 2012 11:09:12 GMT -5
I am a pretty emotional person, so I think as a defense mechanism I try really hard to take emotion out of a bad situation so I can think clearer. I kind of remove myself from the situation, observe and move pretty slowly. I see no sense in dramatics or making a scene, it seems counter productive to me. This is actually not always productive. After all, if you don't panic people don't always realize you need help! Once the threat is over, I give into the fears and panic a little.
DH gives in to the panic and moves quick. For him there seems to be no point in moving slow or taking the time to think out your actions. Just do something! Neither are really fight or flight, and both get the job done, maybe just not the most effectively.
I will disclaim though, I have never had a real moment of " Oh my god! I am going to die and !" I don't know my exact reaction to that moment.
Run away screaming, probably and dragging my kids with me if I had them.
DS choked on a hot dog twice. (like, really choked and couldn't breathe) The first time was at a pool party and I remained calm while I performed the Heimlich. It wasn't until after the hot dog was dislodged from his throat and he was breathing that it hit me what could of happened and I had a panic attack. DH was there and was the one freaking out while this was going down.
The second time this happened, I was the one who freaked and DH was the one who calmly gave him the Heimlich. (DS was 5 and then 8 when this happened, btw)
Post by basilosaurus on Jul 21, 2012 12:05:30 GMT -5
Oh, if you want to know what I've done when waking up to a major earthquake(twotrue reminded me of this), I apparently thought all the lights needed to be on, and that I should be in the kitchen. Except, then I pictured all the dishes falling on me. So I ran to the living room b/c that was the only area without a 2nd floor to fall on top of me, and I made sure the dog sat there with me. This was all while the floor was rolling (magnitude of almost 7 IIRC).
Did I mention I was also naked at the time? And without contacts/glasses? Yeah, I'm not so smart when woken out of a deep sleep.
I'm really calm. Haunted houses do nothing to me. At the last one I went to apparantly someone was following me and whispering in my ear. H was behind me so he watched the woman get frustrated at my lack of response and give up.
I do get paralyzed in mid air. Like, if I jump off a high dive I can't figure out how to move. This has led to belly flops.
In an emergency or an extremely tense, potentially volatile situation, I'm extremely calm. I keep a cool head and can assess situations clearly and do what needs to be done. Once all is taken care of, I usually break down.
If I'm surprised by someone, they're usually in for a nut punch.
Post by earlgreyhot on Jul 21, 2012 13:58:51 GMT -5
. I avoid haunted houses and drop profanities when DH scares me. But when the DC earthquake hit I picked DS up (we were napping in the same room) and took us to a door frame before I'd even woken really up. During felt really calm but surreal, after I was really shaken up. But it was a mild quake and death didn't feel like a real possibility.
I know I don't have the flee response, more the "crouch, hide, evaluate" DH and I do talk about this from time to time (he's the one who was the first one out of his office bldg during the earthquake), as sometimes his response is accurate while other times mine is.
Post by foundmylazybum on Jul 22, 2012 5:55:42 GMT -5
a really good book on this entire topic is called "The gift of fear," by Gavin de Becker.
It has a lot to do with reading danger signs, and also making the most of your own intuition--maybe not necessarily in disaster situations, but in relationships and figuring out dangerous people.