The Sixth Gear

A talk about the nervous system and what happens when you get used to chaos and danger as a way of life. There’s fight or flight, fawn, freeze or flop, but there’s also a “sixth gear” for people who grew up scanning the environment for signs that they might be in jeopardy at any moment, because that often proved to be the case.

It’s a bit like cruise control or autopilot - this still and quiet place inside where you retreat so you can think and do the things that need to get done, even if you are not fully engaged with the “falling rocks” around you. It can be handy in an emergency - people with that sixth gear will probably be the ones to call 911 first - but it can also be strange. There’s such a thing as too calm. I talked about this, and our response to shock generally, in the context of what’s happening in the United States. There’s a moment after something horrific happens when you’re trying to process what you’re seeing. It’s this surreal, liminal space between what makes sense and what makes no sense at all, and a lot of us are existing in that space.

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