Have you been feeling highly anxious, irritable, stressed, depressed, manic, or simply at odds with yourself and those around you recently?
Under the surface, your nervous system is working overtime to process the mass uncertainty, fear, hysteria, inconsistency and arrhythmia in our routines.
Don’t worry: you’re normal. You’re human. These are highly taxing times on your nervous system, in myriad ways – many of them subconscious or unconscious. Like an iceberg, you might feel like things are a little out of sorts right now, but you’re handling them pretty well, and life on the whole is slower, so it’s good. But under the surface, your nervous system is working overtime to process the mass uncertainty, fear, hysteria, inconsistency and arrhythmia in our routines, and so much more.
Not only this, but when we retreat into survival-based patterns and habits, we automatically begin to dredge up old wounds, and our NS goes to work on “saving us” from those potential threats too.
The pandemic and resulting mass community dissolution and divisiveness have chronically unnerved me, and I’m seeing the same in everyone around me.
Are you feeling it? Have you found some of those old triggers surfacing this past month? I know I have!
Since lockdown began, anxiety has been bubbling up in me like the CO2 in my water kefir jar. I’m not generally an anxious person – I’ve learned through extreme hardships how to release and maintain almost supernatural calm through crisis.
But the pandemic and resulting mass community dissolution and divisiveness have chronically unnerved me, and I’m seeing the same in everyone around me, from friends and peers (even the most brilliant coaches and lightworkers) to celebrities and (of course) governments.
The thing is, it may be a normal and expected response. But at the same time, it is also entirely transmutable.
Every morning (and throughout the day as necessary), I work on clearing and resetting my NS, so I can approach my life from an open place of reverence and deep connection – and not fight or flight.
Some days – like yesterday – require more subconscious processing, and those kind of times look a lot like gentle cocooning with cuddles, blankets and Netflix.
The next day, I intentionally release all that has been processed and it feels like I’ve undergone an exorcism. It’s truly wonderful!
Let us show each other our fears, not as weapons, but as peace offerings.
Working on our NS tone in this way is a bit like building regular muscle. At first it seems impossible to imagine doing 20 push-ups without dying, and fear of failure can threaten to smother any chance of success. But as we lean into it, connect fully with our motivating intention, and build trust in our body’s ability, THEN we also begin to see and feel the wins.
And it is truly wonderful.
I urge you now: find a mentor to help you through this incredibly challenging time. Get the compassionate, loving support you need. Learn to identify your own fears and deep wounds, and begin to process, transmute and release them.
In that transmutation, you will find community reconnection, empathy, empowerment and liberation. Let us show each other our fears, not as weapons, but as peace offerings.