How Do I Get Out of Freeze When I'm Afraid of It?

You push through every day, and an exhaustion stays underneath.
What will surprise you is that the fear of the freeze is often what keeps you in it, and that the way out starts with letting the body move through it.
➡ Full show notes + resources
In this solo episode, Dr. Aimie answers a question she hears nearly every week: how do I get out of freeze when I'm afraid of it? She explains functional freeze, a trauma response that never completed, and how we override it with caffeine, busyness, sugar and stress.
She shares how she lived in functional freeze as a resident physician, why pushing through drains the tank, how she learned to stop fearing her own freeze, and what to do if you are in a shutdown right now.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
00:00 How do I get out of freeze when I’m afraid of it?
01:33 How to recognize functional freeze
03:17 The gas pedal and the emergency brake
07:22 Why we push through
09:00 How pushing through leads to chronic illness
10:54 The fear of the freeze
15:10 How I stopped fearing my own freeze
19:37 Uncoupling the fear from the freeze
24:32 What changes when you stop pushing
25:57 If you are in a shutdown right now
"Freeze is one layer. The fear of the freeze is a second layer. And that second layer is often what keeps us stuck." ~ Dr. Aimie Apigian
If you are always pushing through and always exhausted underneath it, this episode is for you.
RESOURCES:
Take the free 2-Minute Assessment for Stored Trauma and find out which pattern of stored trauma your body has been running.
Get The Biology of Trauma book. Chapter 12, "The Map and Framework for the Journey."
This episode is educational and is not medical advice. Please work with your own qualified healthcare provider for decisions about your care.
Grab your copy of The Biology of Trauma