Freeze! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

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Freeze! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

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“But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Genesis 19:26

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“Freeze” is another trauma response. And it does impact those incarcerated.

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Someone is “freezing” right now within prison walls.

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Someone had to freeze, “back then,” in the life circumstances they endured.

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“They” still have humanity.

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“HE” still loves them.

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“And answering, the King will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you? Did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me.’”

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Matthew 25:40

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“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

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Hebrews 13:3

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“Freeze!” (Hello, Gentlemen…” Book Excerpt)

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Hello, Gentlemen.

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It’s me again. Sheryle.

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As you may or may not know about me, I am filled with all kinds of issues and trauma experiences. And, being on this planet, I have had to watch life play out in confusing and distressing ways.

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Just like you have. Our life events may be different, but trauma is something you and I still share, even if we come from “different worlds.”

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Let’s talk about Freezing.

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Not the “Freeze” a cop may have yelled at you.

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Not the “freeze” of being cold. It’s not about temperature.

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It’s another trauma response. You may have heard or read what I had to say about trauma responses: fight, flight, fawn, and the freeze response I want to share a little about it with you now.

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But first?

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Keep this scripture tucked away in your brain. We will circle back to it later.

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“But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Genesis 19:26

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The Amygdala is an almond-shaped body part, found within our brains. We have one on each side, at our temples, sitting level to our eyes. The Amygdala is responsible for being a sensory warning system, scanning for and detecting threats and danger. It relies heavily on the memories from past experiences, for informing us of any current situation we are living in, in the here and now. This warning system, for EXTRA FUN, is also heavily influenced by the heightened emotions that can be attached to “danger” or to “threat.”
Let me tell you some of my fun Amygdala experiences.

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As an overweight, awkward, abused kid, I was often the target of bullies.

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I had a “kick me” sign on me. Kids just knew they could mess with me. Single me out.

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This was long before social media and cyber bullying. I’m fairly certain that, if I had to contend with that, I probably would have tried to kill myself, to escape that kind of torture.

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But the “old school” bullying was quite effective in creating a scared person who was skilled at freezing, just to avoid further hell and confrontations.

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Some of it was a desperate, not entirely effective way of “blending,” of “camouflage.” And some of it was the emotional, mental, and physical paralysis of locking up, not knowing what to do.

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So, I froze.

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School was hell for me. I was messed with, in one way or another, by at least six bullies, both genders. (Yeah, “the mean girls” were also fun). I just tried to keep my head down, focusing on getting out of a miserable situation, year by year.

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My Amygdala was on constant “high alert,” always scanning for danger.

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Constant experiences and memories of the latest person who wanted “to mess with me.”

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Constant experiences, translated into messages, that said I was always in danger.

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And it wasn’t just the school bullies. I was also abused at home.

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So, no place was safe. Nobody was safe.

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Can you relate? How safe were you, “back then?”

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How safe do you feel “now?”…

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Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse

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Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books