What’s Your Stress Response? Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn?
Your stress response isn’t random… it’s a survival pattern.
Whether you fight, flee, freeze, or fawn, your nervous system adapted to protect you in environments that felt unsafe, overwhelming, or unpredictable. This quiz helps you uncover the why behind your reactions, and how they shape your relationships, conflict style, and emotional world.
Take the quiz to discover your dominant response type, and get a free guide to help you understand it, work with it, and learn what to do about it.
Fight: The Protector - They stay ready…sharp, defensive, and in control. Under pressure, they react fast and guard hard, even when connection is what they truly crave.
Flight: The Navigator - They outrun overwhelm with productivity, perfection, or plans. If they can just get everything right, maybe they’ll finally feel accopmlished.
Freeze: The Stabilizer - They go still. When things get intense, they disconnect - not because they don’t care, but because their deafult leads to shutting down.
Fawn: The Harmonizer -They give, and give, and give, all while silencing their own needs. If everyone else is okay, maybe they will be too.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We believe that nurturing your mind, body, soul, and spirit is essential for overall well-being: and stress impacts all of them
Mind
The way you think & view yourself, others, and the world
Body
How your body reacts to stress & how you manage conflict
Soul
Your emotions, personality and all the things that make you unique
Spirit
How you connect with yourself, your environment, & those around you
Meet Fight: The Protector
This is our body's primal reaction to threat, where we gear up for confrontation. It involves a surge of energy, heightened alertness, and a readiness to face the challenge head-on. While essential for survival, frequent activation of this response can lead to defensiveness, increased conflict, and strained relationships.
Meet Flight: The Navigator
This is our instinct is to escape stressful situations. When activated, it gives a rush of adrenaline that prepares us to flee, helping us avoid confrontations or dangerous scenarios. It's essential for survival but can lead to avoidance, and over-analyzing situations that increase anxiety-driven behaviors if overactivated.
Meet Freeze: The Stabilizer
When faced with overwhelming stress or danger, our body goes into a 'freeze' state. This is a protective mechanism, akin to playing dead, and involves a sense of immobility and numbness. While it can be protective, staying in this response can lead to feelings of being disconnected and stuck - causing isolation.
Meet Fawn: The Harmonizer
This response involves attempting to appease or please others to avoid conflict or harm. It's a survival mechanism that can sometimes lead to neglecting one's own needs or boundaries in favor of keeping the peace. Getting stuck in this response leaves individuals emotionally drained & leads to loss of identity.
Explore More in The App
Did you know Stress Responses change depending on the category? Begin your journey to learn how to work with different stress responses & how they impact the following categories:
✓ Boundaries - How well do you protect your peace - or respect others?
✓ Handling Loss & Grief - How do you manage life transitions and loss?
✓ Attachment & Connection - Who in your life brings out healthy attachments out of you, and who creates chaos?
✓ Communication & Conflict - Can you tell people what you need in a way that is healthy...or are there a lot of misunderstandings?