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Trauma Healed is Extreme Learning
Imagine you’re a zebra in the Serengeti, peacefully grazing when the scent of a predator suddenly sharpens your senses. A twig snaps behind you, and even before you consciously register the sound, your body is already preparing for flight. Your muscles tense, your heart races, and within moments, you’re off, racing away from danger. Once the threat passes, you return to grazing, and your body settles back into a state of calm, the stress dissolving as quickly as it appeared.
Now, consider the modern human experience. Instead of an actual predator, your “lion” might be a vague email from your boss or a sudden ping from your phone. Your body doesn’t distinguish these stressors from the threat of an actual predator. It reacts the same way, flooding your system with stress hormones, preparing you to act as if your life were at stake.
But unlike the zebra, who resets after the threat is gone, our human minds tend to hold onto stress. We replay past events, worry about future ones, and our bodies remain in a state of heightened alert. It’s as if we’re trapped in an endless loop of stress, unable to fully relax and recover.
If these trauma responses are so debilitating, how have humans managed to thrive and adapt? In a world growing ever more chaotic, with escalating stress and complexity, how do we continue to evolve?
