I have an overactive amygdala and am prone to panic attacks.
I've had to use my reasoning to calm down my "fight, freeze or
run" response, even in social situations. I find most social
situations distressing.
The only times I trusted my instincts 100% was when I was in a
dire situation.
One time, lightning struck the property next to mine. We live in
the woods.
I had to help fight the fire on pure instinct, 100% responding.
When I had run out of adrenyline, I crashed. I felt empty and
hollow. I I was scratched up from head to toe from running
through sharp weeds and scraping against branches and I was
bleeding all over.
I didn't feel any pain for a while. I just couldn't move.
Then the pain started. I don't like pain. It "woke me up" and I
had to start taking care of my medical needs and clean up blood.
There were a couple of other fires nearby that others in the
family were fighting, but I had completely exhausted myself. It
was at that point I could reason through the likelihood of fires
affecting our house, given the amount of rain, how far the
firefighters were from our area... and how much help I could be.
I would have gotten in the way that point and stayed back.
Everything worked out fine and there was only a small circle of
burned trees and nobody was hurt.
