I’m watching a video on how chronic stress reduces your adaptation to things like exercise. It’s down on passive coping strategies, such as “seeking out alcohol, watching TV, procrastinating, talking to friends, [and] moaning about the problem.” Instead the video recommends “active coping strategies, such as “actually deal[ing] with the problem,” and recommends such things as “if you have a problem with somebody, talk to them.”

And I’m like, “Okay, that’s a big nope.”

I mean, it’s not wrong… “This is what the stress energizes you to do. So you want to take advantage of that fight-or-flight mode? Seek out what the root cause of your problem is, what it is that is giving you stress, and then tackle the problem head on.”

Except I do not want to take advantage of that fight-or-flight mode, except that I do want to flee if at all possible.

And those passive coping strategies? I’m all-in. I mean, moaning about the problem is like 90% of my whole personality.

Ashley, on the other hand, is totally down with both fight and flight responses:

I jerked awake at least three times last night, yanked out of sleep by some stress dream. Eventually I figured out it was because I hadn’t packed for our upcoming trip. Now I am packed, except for the few things that need to wait for after my last night’s sleep.

I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight.