Quote Originally Posted by lisasub View Post
I can relate. I do call it hypervigilance and it seems to me that it's really about learning so early to scan the environmnet - and to scan so thoroughly as a way to survive, or at least to try to prepare yourself for what was coming next, that we hold onto it as a way of maintaining our precious self-preservation skills.

Sometimes I find that it gets in the way. I'm generally pretty accurate in my take on things (that sounds so conceited -that's not the way I mean it - just that I do pretty well in reading people) but sometimes my hypervigilance stops me from trusting someone who actually might be trustworthy.

That gets in the way of relationships. I don't really know how to tone it down. Any thoughts?
i have come to honor it as it was a survival skill, it saved my life and sanity. After such a ridiculous amount of time in therapy, (at 44 years old i am only out for 2 years) i use it now for good...for being aware of my kids needs, my Masters moods (when i need to be extra good ) how to help customers where i work. There are many times i personalize things that have nothing at all to do with me, there are definite times it interfers with day to day happiness but we all survived this and can use it for good i believe.