A Brief Discussion on the Nervous System

Last year, I was told that I had a deconditioned nervous system. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what that meant—but I knew, instinctively, that it was going to start taking up space in my life. And it did. Behaviors I had long accepted as “just who I am” began to unravel, revealing the truth: I had become skilled at neglecting myself.

There are certain habits I now look back on with compassion, recognizing that I developed them as a way to feel safe. Ironically, the very rules and safety behaviors I clung to were quietly harming my nervous system—rippling into nearly every area of my life. I wasn't human-ing properly. I treated myself like a machine—something to be constantly monitored, managed, and optimized—rather than a fleshy, warm-blooded creature in need of care, softness, and rest. 

It’s hard to empathize with the effects of something you can’t see. A scrape on your knee is obvious; you instinctively know where to stop the bleeding. But healing your nervous system requires a different kind of attention—one that takes patience, practice, and a willingness to listen inward. After completely depleting my nervous system of any sense of balance, I made the necessary decision to become human again.

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