You don't need to face all your fears

But it's good to work through some of them. Here are the fears I'm facing, and the fears I'm letting remain - and why I've decided it's ok to stay afraid.

I’ve been learning about trauma responses and the amygdala (the part of the brain that stores our fears and alerts us to danger), in the context of my son’s school trauma.

I now understand that his bad school experiences are stored in the amygdala and so stepping into the school environment can trigger a nervous system response.

It’s as if school, for him, is like facing a lion in the wild.

As I try to imagine how it might feel for him to have experienced school in this way, I think about my own fears and experiences. The ones I’m facing; the ones I’m not.