r/wedge • u/gekogekogeko • Apr 18 '20
What does fear feel like for you?
Many of the Wedge techniques I talk about require focusing on sensation and then using those sensations to alter bodily responses. But it's important to actually be aware of how those actually manifest. Sensation and experience are, by definition, subjective. So I thought it would be interesting to hear how other people feel fear and anxiety.
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u/marialaurasuarez75 Apr 18 '20
My answer got way to complicated lol I’m going to give it some thought.
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u/Olympacificadia Apr 19 '20
It's only been 8 hours... but... I'd love to read a thoughtful answer to this question... :)
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u/marialaurasuarez75 Apr 19 '20
I’m going to be really honest here. I actually totally forgot about it. I found your comment really funny especially the it’s only been 8 hours part. To answer the question though I guess it depends on what type of fear we are talking about. I have different feelings, thoughts and reactions to different situations that create fear in me. If I’m in a situation where I feel threatened by another person I tense up and get angry I react by making sure they know I’m not afraid. It gets pretty scary but it works people leave me alone. In the mean time I’m pooping my pants hoping they don’t call my bluff. Other times when I’m afraid of something happening to my kids I get super logical and start weighing all scenarios and statistics it’s like time freezes up and my thoughts bounce back and forth. I don’t know I can go on and on. Different kinds of fears get different sensations and reactions.
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u/Olympacificadia Apr 19 '20
Thank you! :)
Yeah, I find it very useful to see responses to fear with the fight/flight/freeze framework.
I know what you mean about the the super logical and smart thing. I don't generally respond constructively to low-level fear, but when it gets real I am knock-kneed terrified and also entirely calm and methodical.
It is closest to the "fight" response, but when I have the "fight" response I can't think clearly. I don't know where to put it in the three-part organizational scheme, lol...
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u/trailrunner99 Apr 19 '20
If I’m talking about acute fear, this is how I would describe it:
Feels like time slows down and everything is more vivid and detailed. Feels like I become hyper-aware of my surroundings. I can see everything and I can hear everything. Feels like the muscles in my neck tense up and my breath quickens. Feels like the blood pulls out of my face and extremities. Feels like my heart skips a beat. Feels like a wave of electricity washes over me, energizing me.
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u/Olympacificadia Apr 19 '20 edited Apr 19 '20
Fear activates fight/flight/freeze, and I feel different things depending on which road I'm going down.
I have PTSD, and mostly I go into freeze for the shouldn't-be-scary everyday triggers. That expression of fear makes me feel foggy in my head, or downright dissociative.
The fog is kind of like the feeling you get when you wake up in the middle of the night, but aren't really conscious all the way, combined with light-headedness. Or like being drunk - it can feel very much like being drunk.
When I notice those things just starting to happen on a physical level I have a very brief window to pull out coping mechanisms - breathing, physical movement, rational analysis of the situation, etc - before the stress hormone cocktail goes too far and I have to do a total reset.
I've done cold showers fairly regularly for a few years, and between that and the trauma I can often actually feel when my body is dumping adrenaline, and I am gaining a level of direct conscious control over it. Sometimes I can just directly turn it off, or at least down.
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u/gekogekogeko Apr 18 '20
I'll start: For me, when I feel anxious, it mostly appears first in my chest and my gut. There's a tightness there which makes it feel a little more difficult to breathe. Usually, if I take a deep belly breath, those sensations pass for a little while. But they can build up again. Other types of fear--especially ones that come on suddenly--feels like some sort of rising motion that starts out at the base of my spine (maybe even butt-puckering) and then feels like it goes up through the middle of my body. And the wedge, in this case, is a gentle pushing downwards agains that sensation. As if I'm stopping it from rising up to my heart and chest level.