When the Unexpected Happens My Story

Last weekend I was faced with an intruder in my home. I am female, I was alone, and there was a strange and uninvited man in my house. Lucky for me he was not aggressive at all, and left extremely quickly once he saw me.

I admit to have been a bit relaxed about security. The door was locked, but I had the window open to let some fresh air in; a window with visibility to the street and easy access. Removing the fly wire and climbing in it was not difficult.

I had told myself that the world was a safe place, and that things like intruders in your house (among many other things) were things that happened to other people.

How did I react?

I screamed, and called the police in the first instance. How I continued to react, however, was the more interesting part. Driving later in the day on toll roads I found the beep of my e-tag to be too loud. Coming home that evening a man I didn’t know on the footpath outside my house sent me into a panic, and I found myself calling the police again. The next day a man came to read the water meter - I registered he was there, and jumped to alert the moment he was on my property. That fight / flight response that we have built into us is so powerful.

Each day since then my reactions have been more and more relaxed. Yes I have been a bit more careful about locking up, realising that it doesn’t actually impact on my quality of life to have things locked up a bit more. Each day I have been a bit less jumpy.

Steps I have taken to help my system return to normal?





What have I taken away?





#life_skills
#meditation
#unexpected
#personal_story
#support
#exercise
#rest
#lucky_ones
#life
#stress_management


%selfavenue