Fight The Freeze

Several years ago I was in a foreign country working for our government. I was being shot at. This was not a combat zone so the attack was purely surprise. With the initial shots fired in anger at me specifically, I responded. My response was from training and I returned with a lethal response. After that first firefight ended and we were in relative safety I had a physical response. I shook for about 5 minutes. I tried to maintain control but could not until it was out of my system. I had a crash from the adrenaline dump that sustained me during the fight.
During a violent event it is said that one of three things happen. You go into fight, flight, or freeze mode. I want to talk about the third mode of freeze. For years the survival modes of fight or flight were focused on. But know that the hopeless mode of freeze exists. Clinically speaking, you have these symptoms:
 Feeling stuck in some part of body
 Feeling cold/frozen, numb, pale skin
 Sense of stiffness, heaviness
 Holding breath/restricted breathing
 Sense of dread, heart pounding
 Decreased heart rate (can sometimes increase)
 Orientation to threat
As has been said “pain is unavoidable, suffering is optional”. Suffering comes from trying to avoiding what is happening to you. But simply acknowledging what is happening is not enough. It is also important to know what to do when we acknowledge our situation, how to calm ourselves. How do we deal with this kind of stress?
For the warrior, this type of calmness comes with training. We must train our actions and train our mind. With my own situation, it was the repeating of the stress that helped me to deal with it. Flight was out of the question, and so was freeze. If I froze, I died. By the 3rd firefight I did not have the shakes or the adrenaline crash. I do not advise this method. Constant exposure to danger is not the answer. Creating a solution to not knowing what to do, is a very good start. When I heard that 7.62 x 39 round crack by my head my initial response was to seek cover. That is good. But after cover, then what? My training told me to respond in kind and return fire. My first volley was to keep the enemy from shooting back while I observed the situation. As shots come by and toward you, like my response, putting your head down is the response. My first shots were to get the enemies head down. Next, my observation was to see where the enemy was located. Muzzle flash will give you away quickly especially in a low light situation. Once I established a target, I could focus my shooting (aim) at something tangible.
Your situation will probably not be the same as mine. If you are threatened you will probably have a clear picture of where your foe is. There is a lot to be said for situational awareness and seeing the threat coming. That is not always possible but often it is.
In a stressful situation, such as a fight or confrontation, your stress response will kick in and your ability for creative and logical thinking is dramatically impaired. So if you haven’t “pre-considered” your options, you could be in trouble.
If you are well-trained, you have already created a number of “self-defense solutions” and a response will be immediately available to you. The most appropriate response will be drawn from your “short term memory” (conscious thinking and muscle memory) and you will do it.
You see something happen, recognize it, decide what to do about it and then respond quickly and decisively. (OODA loop)
If something happens that you are confused about, and you don’t have an obvious response, your brain must now access long term memory and scroll through all past knowledge and experience in search for an appropriate response. This will definitely slow down your “Survival Reaction Time.”
You may end up choosing a poor response (under reacting or over reaction) or, if your brain doesn’t find anything, it enters a “looping process” and you freeze up. (Not reacting at all)
The solution to the problem of freezing up is to do exactly what YOU are doing now… Start learning everything you can about self-defense and use “What-If” scenarios to mentally play out possible situations in your mind, decided in advance how you would like to respond to them. (Perhaps I should qualify this a bit and tell you to learn everything you can about legitimate self-defense and the science of performance. There is a lot of baloney out there masquerading as legitimate fighting advice).
Training gives you confidence. You can’t fake confidence. So don’t try to fake your training. It comes with a price. That price is learning, training, and practice. It doesn’t matter what method you choose to defend yourself and your loved ones. This applies to all self-defense.
The way you move, walk, carry yourself and interact with others affects whether you project a victim profile or not. Essentially, people who walk with confidence and ease, move with coordination and balance are seldom selected. People who are attentive to their environment and aware of their surroundings are also unlikely to be targeted. When you put together confidence and situational awareness, you have a combination that can keep you out of a lot of problems. Match this with sense, and staying away from places and people you know can be a problem, you may never have to defend yourself. You will become a hard target. But if you must be prepared and ready.
Remember that honing your skills, repetition, and practice develops competence. Competence brings confidence. Confidence brings a correct response and will keep you from the freeze zone.
In your training program make sure you train as close to real as you can get. My choice of self-defense is a firearm so I make sure I try to realistically train. I’ve shot in a shoot house before with targets that can be moved. This was great training but I haven’t had access to a shoot house for some time. I’m not likely to have force-on-force training as I have in the past. So I must tailor my training program to be as realistic as possible in my circumstances. Standing at an indoor range shooting as a paper target is not ideal. Moving and shooting from around, under, and through, cover is pretty good. Dry fire is an option that can be part of your training program (and should be in my opinion.) Find what works for you and what can be realistic. Paintball and Airsoft are possible training tools. The more you train, the better your fight with the freeze can be.
Visualizing and playing “what if” scenarios in your mind can also prepare you better to fight the freeze.
No one can be sure of their reaction to violence until it happens to them. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Preventing a violent event is equally important as preparing for it. Chances are you will not ever have to defend your life. But if you are better prepared, you shall not fear.

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn