IS YOUR BRAIN OVERPROTECTING YOU?

19 ways an overprotective brain can hide in plain sight

Your brain protects you all day long without even asking your permission. You touch something hot, it pulls your hand away. You lose your balance, it corrects you. Something moves toward your face, and you blink.

So obviously, protection is one of your brain’s most important jobs, but it doesn’t have to be right in order to protect you. Sometimes it decides to respond to something that might be dangerous as though it is dangerous. And it even keeps protecting you after a threat has passed. If that happens often enough, protection can start changing the way you live. But it rarely feels like overprotection in the moment. It feels more like being careful.

So here’s a little experiment.

Read the statements below and keep count of every one that is usually true for you. FOR EACH ONE THAT SOUNDS LIKE YOU, GIVE YOURSELF ONE POINT.

I have a hard time relaxing when there’s something I could be doing to make sure everything’s okay.

I brace my body before doing something I know is going to hurt.

I can spend a lot of time doing nothing, even when I don’t actually want to be doing nothing.

I keep checking my symptoms to see if they’re getting worse.

I feel like my body is always a little bit on alert.

I avoid certain movements or activities because I know I’ll pay for them afterwards.

Sometimes I cancel my plans because I’m not feeling good.

I pay close attention to other people’s moods, so I know if something is wrong.

I sometimes feel exhausted just thinking about everything I need to do.

I made a list of 19 ways an overprotective brain can start shrinking your life. If you’re already keeping score, you can finish the quiz here and see what your score means. You might just be surprised.

Want to learn how to turn down the overprotection?
Get The Overprotective Brain at Amazon.com.