A to Z Quick Chat 97 | Are you good in stressful situations or do you freak out?

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack discuss the following question: Are you good in stressful situations or do you freak out? Transcript:00:00:01JackWelcome to the A-Z English podcast, where Jack and Social take you on a journey from learning the basics to mastering the nuances of the English language. Our podcast is designed for non-native speakers who are looking to improve their English skills in a fun and interactive way. Each episode covers a wide range of topics.00:00:23JackFrom grammar and vocabulary to slang and culture to help you navigate the English speaking world with ease.00:00:35JackWelcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I am one of the hosts of the podcast and I'm here with my co-host, social and today we're going to do a question and we'll answer the question for you. The question is, are you good in stressful situations or do you?00:00:54JackFreak out and social. Why don't you define freak out for our listeners out there in case they don't know what that means?00:01:02XochitlSpeak out is like completely start panicking and lose your ability to think things through rationally and you kind of become a liability for yourself.00:01:14XochitlAnd everyone around.00:01:15XochitlYou in a special.00:01:18JackYeah, if you freak out, just lose your lose, your cool. We say in English, right. You kind of, you kind of go crazy, you freak out.00:01:28JackLet me see here. Are you good in stressful situations or do you do?00:01:32JackYou usually freak out.00:01:35XochitlI was just thinking about this the other day because I was watching a Netflix show where like their plane crashes into a lake or some like huge lake in Alaska and like.00:01:47XochitlThe guy starts freaking out and ends up like.00:01:51XochitlRuining everything by opening the plane door and like the water, all rushes in and like girls, like really feel like she's had her head on straight.00:02:01XochitlAnd keeps thinking rationally and and me personally, I think it probably is going to depend on the situation, but I tend to. I don't like freeze. I tend to go into action and I was trained that way from an early age because my parents only said.00:02:23XochitlNo one else is gonna. You have to assume that no one else will do anything, so you have to. If you see someone bus or head open on the sidewalk or something, you have to assume that no one else is going to call the ambulance. You need to call the ambulance like you need to get it together. So because my parents kind of really put that in my head.00:02:36JackRight.00:02:44XochitlFrom an early age, I feel.00:02:46XochitlI it really stuck and I do kind of always like react quickly in a bystander situation or like a personal crisis.00:02:56XochitlYeah. I appreciate my parents for that because I learned about the bystander effect in psychology and.00:03:01XochitlA lot of people.00:03:01XochitlWill literally just stand by and stare and not do anything.00:03:04JackRight. What is the? How would you describe the bystander effect? I think that's a good, good one for our listeners to learn.00:03:12XochitlBystander effect is like, let's say that you see a car crash and the person stumbles out of the car and it's like bleeding everywhere and there's a big group of people all staring, but no one is calling the ambulance. No one.00:03:24XochitlIs coming in.00:03:24XochitlTo help, and the reason for that is because.00:03:28XochitlWe all like there's a psychological principle.00:03:30XochitlWhere we think someone.00:03:31XochitlElse is doing it or is going to.00:03:33XochitlDo it so we kind of freeze collectively.00:03:37JackRight. Because I think the guy next to me is going to call 911. He thinks I'm going to call 911.00:03:42JackOr 119 whatever.00:03:44JackYour country, you're in and.00:03:45JackNobody does it. So it's like you got.00:03:47XochitlYes. And then in two weeks, so they're all.00:03:49JackA whole group of people, yeah.00:03:51XochitlWaiting for someone.00:03:51XochitlElse to do it, yeah.00:03:52XochitlYeah. Hope you're just standing around.00:03:54XochitlSo how about you, Jack?00:03:55XochitlAre you good in stressful situations?00:03:57XochitlOr do you tend to panic?00:03:58JackI think so. I think I'm. I think I'm pretty good in, in stressful situations. The funny thing is I do suffer from panic. I get panic. I have panic disorder.00:04:10JackAnd I I don't mind sharing that with the the listeners out there. It started, yeah, it started in 2006, but they it never happens in stressful situations. It only happens in like normal situations where we have this.00:04:13XochitlYou get like panic attacks.00:04:27JackThis this expression in English or or condition or whatever we call it fight or flight right? It's like when you feel actually it's there's three right it's fight freeze or flight.00:04:39JackAnd so, in a stressful situation, do you fight, do you, or do you take action? Do you freeze?00:04:45JackOr do you run away?00:04:47JackAnd me, I would get into these, you know, because I I have this condition, I would feel that.00:04:57JackFear the the the fight, the the, the fear feeling of the feeling of fear. But it would be just in a normal situation. So. But The funny thing is it's it's very odd.00:05:09JackOr ironic? Is that in really stressful situations?00:05:15JackI'm actually pretty cool.00:05:17JackI'm pretty chill. I don't freak out. Uh, I had a a pretty.00:05:22JackBig car accident a few years ago.00:05:25JackAnd I remember.00:05:27JackLosing complete control of my car on the freeway, I was hit by a truck.00:05:32JackAnd I went.00:05:33JackAll the way across the freeway, sideways and smashed into the retaining wall totaled my car.00:05:42발표자I was pretty.00:05:44JackKind of. Just like in shock, but I I I didn't start screaming or yelling or jump out of my car or run around. I was just very much like, OK, let's do an assessment. Wear arms and legs. Do I have my arms? Do I have my legs? Yes. Am I in pain? No, I'm not. Dude, I have my seat belt, you know, saved my life.00:06:04JackAll those things I was able to.00:06:06JackKind of in that.00:06:08JackDo an assessment and see where I was and I was actually thinking very clearly. I think maybe it has to do with the adrenaline in your body is it's kind of allows you to to to it. It's like a it's like a shot of energy. And so in that situation I thought I played it pretty cool and so.00:06:28JackIt wasn't until maybe like one or two hours later, when I kind of freaked out a little bit, but in the moment of stress, I'm actually pretty good. I'm pretty dependable and I take.00:06:40XochitlJack, I have kind of a theory and a question related to that theory. Did you grow up like around a lot of stress or like stressful situations and stuff like that? Like, did you?00:06:54JackOhh that's a good question. Uhm, no, actually, you know.00:06:57JackI grew up in a pretty.00:07:00JackI'm trying to think like.00:07:02JackDid I have a lot of stressful situations?00:07:05JackNo, no. I would say I grew up in a pretty sheltered, you know, pretty, pretty, you know, pretty sheltered existence. You know, with the caring parents, you know, they were they they were watching out for us, but they were giving us enough.00:07:21JackYou know, room to invent, you know, find adventure and and have fun. So I didn't really experience a lot of stress as a young person.00:07:31XochitlThat's interesting. I definitely feel I experienced like a lot of stress and trauma in my younger years.00:07:39XochitlAnd I think that that is why.00:07:43XochitlI'm like, chill in high stress situations, but kind of also suffer from like anxiety and soul part. And just like normal everyday situations. Because I feel that my brain was primed to see like stress.00:08:03XochitlAnd intense situations as normal.00:08:10XochitlThen whenever I'm in a relaxed, calm environment for too long, I get like really anxious because I think it's like my brain's like, OK, where's what's?00:08:20XochitlThe danger here?00:08:22XochitlI think that's weird.00:08:22JackThat's funny. I'm the same.00:08:24JackWay. I'm like we in English. We say I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's like nothing is scarier for me than no crises occurring at any moment. If I'm crisis free.00:08:38JackThen I'm just in a state of waiting for the next horrible thing to happen, and I'm just waiting. Always, like, OK, what's things are too good right now? They're too good. Something bad needs to happen, and it's it's just such a like it's it's such a a kind of negative way of.00:08:58JackYou know, we just talked about the power of positive thinking.00:09:00JackI think that's like the.00:09:01XochitlRight.00:09:03XochitlPower of negative thinking and the fact that.00:09:04JackThe power of negative thinking.00:09:05JackYeah, like that's it, it does. It's just like it's it and my brain is just, you know, I can't change it. I'm just, I'm just that way. And so yeah, very simple situations. I'm like, I I have panic. And yet in the most stressful situation, I'm.00:09:14XochitlRight.00:09:23JackCool as a cucumber.00:09:24XochitlYeah, it's like you were expecting that to happen. Yeah. I think there's, like, a lot that goes into it. I think it can either be that we grew up in a in an environment that was very like tumultuous, which for our listeners who don't know, it's like a really chaotic or intense environment.00:09:42XochitlAnd I think another thing is that for our survival.00:09:46XochitlWe have, like you know, Caveman brain. Those our brain in a.00:09:51XochitlWay like we have evolved and developed.00:09:55XochitlOver hundreds and thousands of years, but at the same time, I think there's still parts of our brain that are primed to.00:10:06XochitlSearch for danger because we did not always have the kind of comfort that we do now, like the kind of comfortable life or safety that is so widespread these days.00:10:16JackYeah. When we lived in the forest or on the Savannah, you know where there were large cats and things like that. You know, our ancient ancestors, it was good to be always on alert. Cause you're like lying cheetah, you know, like a wild boar.00:10:35JackWe we were the.00:10:36JackOnes that survived.00:10:37JackYou know, and the the, I think the problem is that we we're we're we're very much like attuned our brains are attuned for a hunter gatherer kind of lifestyle.00:10:50JackYeah. And we, but we live in a mode.00:10:53JackAnd, you know, comforts, you know, we live in the modern comforts of of modern society. And so.00:11:01XochitlAnd I I do.00:11:02XochitlThink that a lot.00:11:03XochitlOf the way that our society is structured now, just like leads our anxiety to get worse in a lot of ways because we're a lot more isolated than previous generations. We have a way more hectic work.00:11:20XochitlSchedule and life.00:11:21XochitlWork life balance and previous generations did.00:11:24XochitlAnd we exist in a society where we're all connected to social media constantly, and I'm not one of those social media haters. Oh my God, I don't like.00:11:33XochitlPeople like that, I do.00:11:35JackUmm, no, I I use it. It's very.00:11:37JackUseful for our podcast, you know.00:11:38XochitlYes, awareness of all the bad things happening all the time through social media is something that.00:11:47XochitlIs not good for mental health.00:11:49JackYeah, no, I we're inundated with like, sorry, I'm using big words here. Inundated means we are our minds are filled with images and headlines of all the tragedies across the entire world of which there are many. And I don't think that's a healthy thing that we're. I don't think we.00:12:09JackWere supposed to.00:12:11JackKnow everything.00:12:13JackEverywhere, all at once. You know, it was when I was a kid, it was like, you know, my neighborhood news. That's what I would get, you know, the newspaper, the local news. Now we just get, like, I can if there's something bad happens, you know, on the other side of the globe, you know, I hear about it. The.00:12:33JackIce caps are are melting the UM, you know, the sea level is rising. There was an earthquake here and a tsunami over there, and a tornado over.00:12:43JackHere and a hurricane.00:12:44JackAnd over there, and it just feels like the world is collapsing and it's just like maybe it's always been that way. But there's we're just getting more information, and I'm not a climate change denier. I certainly accept climate change here. I just want to make that clear. But I just think that we're not meant to know everything.00:13:04JackAll at one time.00:13:05XochitlIt can be too stressful, especially when we don't really have anything we.00:13:08XochitlCan directly do about it.00:13:10JackRight.00:13:10XochitlYeah, it does get overwhelming.00:13:14XochitlSo yeah, let us know, Jack, what was the?00:13:19JackNo. Yeah, yeah, I'll. I'll help you. OK. Our website, our website is A-Z, englishpodcast.com.00:13:26XochitlNo, no, no. What's the ending? The.00:13:30XochitlTo let us know whether you're.00:13:32JackOhh let us know.00:13:33JackWhat you think on our uh, on our our website?00:13:38JackIs that what you mean?00:13:38XochitlNo, they they what was the original topic?00:13:44JackOh, oh, yeah, yeah.00:13:46JackYeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, OK?00:13:48JackOh, yes, so let me help you with that, OK.00:13:52JackOK.00:13:53XochitlSo funny, you should almost leave. This is funny.00:13:56JackWell, maybe I will. OK. Yeah. We forgot our topic cause soch and I are, we'd love to chat. Are you good in stressful situations or do you freak out?00:14:00XochitlLadies with sloopers?00:14:06XochitlWe both forgot the topic. All right, let's. Yeah, I'm really laughing, OK?00:14:08JackYou're freaking out now.00:14:14XochitlLet us know.00:14:15XochitlIn a comment at A-Z englishpodcast.com.00:14:19XochitlShoot us an e-mail or join our WhatsApp group and shoot us an e-mail at AZ [email protected] and let us know whether you are good in stressful situation or whether you tend to freak out. See you guys.00:14:30XochitlNext time, bye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/a-to-z-quick-chat-97-are-you-good-in-stressful-situations-or-do-you-freak-out/Social Media:Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. 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