You’ve survived by staying busy, alert, and productive — often outrunning fear, anxiety, or shame. When things feel unsafe, you may escape into work, perfectionism, planning, or distractions. You might feel guilty when you’re not doing “enough.” Flight responses often develop when slowing down felt dangerous in the past.

🧠 Strengths: Driven, independent, proactive, high-achieving

💛 Growth edges: Making space for rest, connection, and emotions without guilt

🌱 Gentle reminder: You don’t have to outrun your pain. You are safe to slow down and breathe.

The flight trauma response happens when your nervous system perceives danger and reacts by trying to escape- physically, mentally, or emotionally. Sometimes it looks like anxiety. Sometimes it looks like profectionism, overworking, or constantly staying busy to avoid discomfort or feelings of helplessness. Slowing down can feel unsafe- but we will come to learn that stillness makes space for pain to be processed. If this is you, you are not alone. Your body is doing exactly what it is supposed to do to keep you safe. And safety is where healing begins.

Signs you are in “Flight”

1. Restlessness & Inability to Sit Stil: Feeling like you always need to be moving or doing something.

2. Perfectionism & Striving for flawlessness to avoid criticism or failure.

3. Overworking or Overcommitting: Using busyness as a way to avoid emotions or painful memories.

4. Constant Need to Stay Productive: Feeling guilty or anxious when resting.

5. Difficulty Focusing: Jumping from task to task without completing anything.

6. Avoidance of Emotional Conversations: Changing the subject, shutting down, or leaving when emotions come up.

7. Panic or Anxiety Attacks: Feeling overwhelmed and needing to escape stressful situations.

8. Hyper-Independence: Believing you must rely only on yourself and refusing help from others.

9. Escaping Through Addictions or Distractions: Using work, exercise, social media, or substances to avoid emotional pain.

10. Feeling Overwhelmed Easily: Reacting to stress by trying to outrun or outwork it.

11. Racing Thoughts: Constantly thinking about what’s next or replaying past mistakes.

12. Fear of Failure: Avoiding situations where you might not succeed or be “good enough”

13. Struggling to Be Present: Always planning ahead or dissociating rather than engaging in the moment.

14. Irritability When Stuck or Trapped: Feeling panicked when you can’t leave a situation.

15. Difficulty Sleeping: Struggling to quiet your mind at night, leading to insomnia or restlessness.

You may have more than one dominant trauma response, and that’s completely normal.

Trauma responses aren’t personality types — they’re adaptive survival strategies your nervous system developed to keep you safe. Depending on the situation, who you’re with, or how resourced you feel, you may shift between Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn.

🧠 For example:

You might go into Fight mode in a relationship conflict, but default to Flight when faced with pressure or failure.

You may Fawn with authority figures but Freeze in moments of overwhelm or shutdown.

Multiple high scores mean your system is complex and responsive. It doesn’t mean you’re broken — it means you’ve had to navigate a lot, and you’ve developed flexible ways to survive.

💡 What to do next:

Look at your two highest scores. These may be your most common default responses.

Reflect on when and where each one shows up.

Use this awareness as a starting point for healing — not to label yourself, but to get curious about your needs.

🌱 The goal isn’t to eliminate these responses — it’s to recognize them with compassion, and learn to respond from a place of safety rather than survival.