Too Wired to Breathe: What to Do When High-Energy Emotions Have You Stuck in Fight Mode
Know the Right Strategies When You’re
Stuck in Fight Mode
I've noticed something recently.
Everyone's on edge.
We're wired. Some of us are swimming in a low-grade sea of anxiety. Others are being pounded by non-stop waves of bad news, uncontrolled stress, and massive uncertainty.
We're not sad. We're not frozen.
We're angry.
In the parlance of the sympathetic nervous system, we've been thrown into fight mode, and we're unsure how to get out.
With healthcare burnout rates generally over 50% across all healthcare professional roles, frustration, indignation, and animosity abound.
Healthcare professionals—and patients—are fed up.
There's a feeling the system has failed us.
When you're stuck in fight mode, being told to calm down feels patronizing at best.
If you've been swept up in the maelstrom, you need strategies to support your nervous system and navigate your way out of fight mode.
How Does Your Brain Get Stuck in Fight Mode?
As a healthcare professional, you've certainly heard of the sympathetic nervous system. You're no stranger to the phrase "fight or flight."
But let's recap and see how we get stuck in flight or fight mode.
It all starts with a threat. A perception of danger. That subtle or not-so-subtle trigger that alerts a primitive center of our brain, the amygdala.
And let's face it. The amygdala is small but mighty.
It's been described as the size of a shelled peanut and the shape of an almond. This seems appropriate. The amygdala can make us feel a little nutty at times.
The amygdala speaks in the language of high-energy emotions. Fear. Anxiety. Anger.
It has the ability to bypass our logic and reason. Its function is protection, but it can send us into an emotional hijack.
It sounds the alarm. It rallies the troops of our mental circuitry and flips on our sympathetic nervous system.
We momentarily freeze. We assess—sometimes consciously and other times without even recognizing it. And then, it's go-time. We shift into fight or flight (except when we get stuck in freeze or fawn, but that's for another day).
The question becomes, what encourages your brain to get stuck in fight mode?
It's a complex interplay between our natural tendencies and the contexts we find ourselves in.
The perceptual filters we apply to the world, past experiences, and the state of our mental and physical health color our response. Our social and physical environment, personal resources, and perceived threat level also influence how we react.
For introverts in healthcare, we can be pushed into fight mode through:
Experiencing chronic and high-intensity stress
Masking emotions
Chasing perfectionism
Ignoring the need for rest
Regardless of how we got there, it's not a place we want to stay long-term. The mental and physical health consequences of prolonged sympathetic activation are many.
You need a life raft to carry you to safety in the storm.
How to Let Go of Negative Energy
Awareness is a wonderful thing. It allows us to assess the situation, identify the problem, and create an action plan.
Now that we've created awareness, it's time to get to what we're all here for: how do we start feeling better? More importantly, how can we start feeling better in the heat of the moment—when the day has gone sideways, and you're feeling raw and exposed, like a live wire zinging with energy that needs somewhere to go?
Mindfulness and your breath are foundational tools to ground that energy, but there are days when you might need other ways to discharge high-energy emotions.
Here are three immediate options to release emotions that have you stuck in fight mode:
Shake It Out ➝ If you're a dog-lover like me, you know this move. It's a full-body shake to let go of negative energy and stress.
You can do this anywhere—in an exam room between patients, in your office before starting the day, or when you're hiding in a bathroom stall in hopes of finding a little peace.
Shake your hands, arms, and legs. Wiggle your head and torso. Yes, it can feel and look weird, but give it a try.
Start gently and work up to a full-on shake that would make your dog proud.
How It Works: Known as therapeutic or neurogenic tremoring, this move helps you let go of negative energy by decreasing muscular tension and "burning off" adrenaline that keeps you in fight mode.
Engage in Explosive Movements ➝ There are times when unpleasant, high-energy emotions leave you feeling like you might explode.
Meet them with explosive movements, such as jumping jacks, running up the stairs, or jumping around like you're at a 90's dance party with Kris Kross.
Emotions are energy. Match the momentum of your action with the intensity of the emotion. Even just a minute or two of activity can help you feel better. Again, you can find a private space to do this if necessary.
How It Works: We know exercise is good for us. Even short bursts of activity can reduce levels of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Aerobic exercise can also give us a boost of mood-enhancing endorphins
Tense Up to Relax ➝ Progressive muscular relaxation is another way to release negative energy and let go of emotions that are less-than-pleasant.
And it's precisely what it sounds like. You gradually contract and relax all the muscles in your body, one major muscle group at a time. If you're in a pinch and don't have time to sequentially move through your body, you can also try contracting—and then relaxing—everything all at once.
Though best done in a quiet space where you won't be interrupted, progressive muscle relaxation is another go-anywhere, on-the-fly, all-purpose relaxation technique. You can even do a version of this in the presence of others. Just pick one or two inconspicuous muscle groups to contract and relax.
How It Works: Like the other activities listed above, progressive muscle relaxation can reduce cortisol levels and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Muscle tension fires up the sympathetic nervous system. By alternating tensing and relaxing your muscles, you help create balance in your autonomic nervous system.
An added bonus: you may become more aware of how you chronically hold tension in your body. When you recognize the first signs of stress in your body, you can take action earlier. Why wait for lightning to strike?
Before we wrap up, I'll share a bonus activity for when you have more time.
Write Yourself to Right Yourself ➝ It's been said we have around 6,000 thoughts per day. And our brains are wired to hang on to uncomfortable thoughts more than pleasant ones.
Leaving negative emotions to ping-pong around in your head without an outlet is the equivalent of getting caught in the storm with no shelter in sight. Writing can be the answer.
There are several ways you can use writing to help release emotions that keep you swirling in fight mode:
Write a no-holds-barred letter to the person who has triggered you. Don't worry about being politically correct. You're not going to send this rant to anyone. The point is to vent your unfiltered thoughts and emotions without incurring real-world consequences.
Perform a brain dump. You carry and track vast amounts of data every day. A brain dump lets you set it down. Don't worry about grammar, organized thoughts, or making it look pretty. Just write. Give yourself 5-10 minutes to write continuously without pauses, censoring, or judgment. The goal is to move your high-energy emotions out of your head and onto paper.
Have a conversation with your high-energy emotions. Creating distance from your unpleasant feelings and recognizing you are not your emotions gives you a chance to get curious. Ask your anger, frustration, or irritation what it's trying to tell you and how it's trying to help you. This can be an eye-opening way to create awareness of your needs and values.
Rewrite your story. There are always at least 2 sides to every story. Write at least one alternate version of the events that have triggered you. The more sides you can see, the easier it is to escape the emotional hijack.
Scribble. Yes, scribble. Grab a pen and paper, close your eyes, and let your hand flow over the paper. Notice the pace and the pressure of the pen as you scribble. Then, open your eyes and see if you can transform your scribble into a funny animal or cartoon character. This is a fun, playful way to let go of negative energy.
Whenever possible, perform these writing exercises by hand for greater effect.
How It Works: Depending on the approach, writing can be beneficial in several ways. First, getting your emotions out of your head and onto paper can reduce the cognitive load that taxes your mental energy and increases your susceptibility to sympathetic activation. Additionally, writing helps bring your prefrontal cortex back online and tamps down the amygdala's threat response.
Writing by hand can slow down your thoughts and give you more time to respond (rather than react), and the sensory process can help ground you.
Coming Back From Emotional Hijack
You will always face challenges and circumstances that can leave you feeling overstimulated and exposed when you work in healthcare. Some days, you'll feel like a live wire, ready to zap anyone who gets in your way.
Unfortunately, you'll never be able to completely control the chaos, but you can determine how you'll deal with the negative energy it creates. When the energy is high and "just calming down" feels inaccessible, save the deep breathing for another time and use a tool that matches your intensity level.
Want to learn more about slowing down to create more calm?
Learn how to protect and support your energy for greater well-being with the Energy Management for Introverts in Healthcare guide.
You can access it for free here.
Ready for 1:1 support from someone who understands your introverted nature?
Learn more about working with me here.
Charity is a physician and burnout coach helping introverts in healthcare escape feelings of apathy, irritability, and resentment brought on by the increasing demands and decreasing rewards of medicine.
She uses her 20 years of experience in clinical medicine combined with coaching to help introverts discover ways to be diligent, thoughtful clinicians while prioritizing their needs and protecting their energy. She wants you to know you don’t have to feel guilty for wanting a thriving life inside and outside of medicine.