Your Nervous System is Not Your Enemy - Part 1

In the survival days of yesteryear when predators were a thing, your body needed to be on high alert to protect you from real and present physical danger. Which is exactly what your nervous system was built for. It’s an age old system that has evolved over time but still remains effective today.

Fast forward a few centuries and that racing heart you get before a meeting even though you are fully prepped for it, or the wave of dread you experience before having a conversation you’d rather not have, is your nervous systems response to the potential threat in front of you.

These days we label it ‘anxiety’ a condition that should be fixed, talked through, calmed down. But in essence the rapid heartbeat, shallow breath and urge to leave the room and run away is just your in built protection mechanism shielding you from a risk to your personal status quo.

It is by no means a broken system, it may be slightly antequated but it is working in perfect order. The problem is your nervous system is not designed to decipher between a grisly sabre tooth tiger or an alarmingly ominous email entitled ‘Meeting room, 5 minutes’. It reacts to the hazard it has been presented with, no matter what form it takes.

Your nervous system isn’t having a meltdown, it is, quite frankly, doing its job with the tools it has been given. Recognizing this, is a game changer.

One of the biggest challenges for mental and physical wellbeing in society today is stress. Working with your nervous system instead of battling against it, is the difference when it comes to long term commitment to reducing stress levels.

The two most common reactions when it comes to stress that everyone has heard of are fight or flight.

·       Fight – borne out of irritability, involves the urge to push back against the person or situation, to win, if you will.

·       Flight  - the compulsion to run away, flee the perceived crisis and avoid it at all costs.

However there are two less recognized, less noisy reactions that are no less significant.

·       Freeze – when your mind goes blank, stuck, feeling incapable of making a simple decision

·       Fawn – the need to over apologize, over explain and smooth things over before anyone notices and gets upset.

To be clear, none of these reactions are wrong. They are all automatic responses by your nervous system to keep you safe. But, allowing yourself to recognize which one you are actually feeling and why, can prevent overwhelm. Listening to the signals it is giving off, instead of trying to override them, will provide you with more protection.

One of the fastest ways to shift your body from high alert is to literally breathe a sigh of relief. Inhaling for two and releasing one long exhale through your mouth. Furthermore, slowly taking in your surroundings enables the nervous system to recognize I am here and here is safe. Lastly humming stimulates the vagus nerve which is one of the main pathways that calms your body down.

Final thoughts

Telling yourself ‘there’s nothing to worry about’ rarely works when you’re facing a threat. The response is not coming from the logical part of your brain. Understanding that your response is your nervous system trying to protect you and listening to the signs, will help the danger pass quicker and ease the situation more efficiently.

Considering your nervous system an ally rather than an enemy when facing more difficult moments will help guide you safely through life’s twists and turns. Survival of the fittest implies fighting your battles alone. Working with your nervous system provides you with a bodyguard for life.

PS “Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming” Robert Tew. Discover your calm and give your nervous system a voice, contact Positive-Soul

Big obvious stressors are easy to recognize but the smaller, quieter triggers pass us by unnoticed, accumulating over time. It is these low grade frictions that happen throughout a normal day that can build and chip away at your nervous system without shouting loud enough to cause alarm. These are the things that we need to take care with before they escalate.

How to do this is explained in part 2 of this blog series.