Survival Mode: When Does It Help Us & When Does It Work Against Us?

Simply Worth It: Physician Negotiations with Dr. Linda Street

‘Tis the season for functioning in survival mode. With busy schedules, to-do lists, holiday plans, and the usual end-of-year stuff, sometimes all we can muster is just “good enough”. We can’t always be in peak achievement mode, and that’s okay.

But when survival mode becomes less a temporary phase, and more a chronic state of being, there’s a problem.

How can we tell if survival mode is becoming more maladaptive and toxic? What can we do when we’re stuck in survival mode?

In this episode, I share what a long-term state of survival tells us and what we can do about it.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode

- The good thing about survival mode

Is working in survival mode ever acceptable?

- Chronic survival mode vs. hibernation

Sometimes we slow down to prepare for a big leap forward, but how do we make sure that’s what’s happening?

- The giant caveat of functioning in survival mode

How can we tell if our survival mode is a symptom of something deeper and far more serious?