Grounded Notes is a twice-weekly letter for people who are learning to trust their body again. Written by Sinead Kelly — nervous system practitioner and creator of The GROUND Method™.

Most of us grew up knowing two words for stress: fight, or flight.

There are at least five.

Fight — confrontation, irritability, the urge to push back or control the situation.

Flight — the urge to leave, physically or mentally. Busyness, overworking, and constant motion often live here too.

Freeze — going blank, foggy, or still. Decision-making shuts down.

Fawn — appeasing, over-apologising, agreeing to keep the peace, even at your own expense.

Shutdown — the deepest response. Numbness, disconnection, a sense of being far away from your own life.

Most people default to one or two of these without ever realising it has a name. You might fight at work and fawn at home. You might freeze under sudden pressure and flight into busyness everywhere else.

Knowing which one your body defaults to is one of the most useful things you can learn about yourself — because once you can name it, you can start to recognise it earlier, before it runs the whole show.

This is R — Regulate in the GROUND Method: recognising which response is actually running, and gently bringing the body back down from it, rather than trying to think your way out from the top.

Next time you notice yourself reacting strongly, pause and ask: which of the five is this? No judgement. Just naming it is often enough to soften its grip slightly.

X, Sinead

P.S "Which of the five do you default to? Hit reply and tell me — I read every message."

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