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The 4 F's

How is your autonomic nervous system wired to respond?

By Lolly VieiraPublished 3 months ago 1 min read
Top Story - June 2026
The 4 F's
Photo by Anderson Rian on Unsplash

I used to live my fear in freeze

Face it with a front of fawn

But I was just thinking today

While sitting in the humid aftermath of rain

Out on my back porch

And realized that I had a kind of

Unseeable, invisible pain response

From the outside anyways

No one could think to imagine

The red hot terror dripping into me

Slowly filling my blood with sriracha

Burning me from fingertips to toes

From the inside out

No one knew

How could they

When the scariest moments

Only make me a silent

A still, unmoving ocean

Flowing without twitching a muscle

A suspended animation of sorts

I don't sob, I smile

Bubbly, fearful laughter

Erupts from my throat

Instead of screams

There's no way

Anyone could ever know

That I've been consumed with horror

Every brittle bone in my body

Bending just to not break

But shaking nonetheless

A rattling mess

With a frozen grin slapped on

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About the Creator

Lolly Vieira

Welcome to my writing page where I make sense of all the facets of myself.

I'm an artist of many mediums and strive to know and do better every day.

https://linktr.ee/lollyslittlelovelies

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    Written by Lolly Vieira