You ever have a week where everything just seems to not be going your way? Little things just start piling up, and before you know it you have like 5 things at once seeming to just be pulling you in opposite directions. That was my week last week, and I got to a point where I get so overwhelmed by thoughts it seems I can’t focus on anything. Just getting the simple things I need to get done take all day. And as someone who is always trying to do many different things, it’s frustrating. It’s almost like your brain won’t let you do what it knows it wants to do. You feel stuck. You’re telling yourself your just “having an off week”.
I’ve gone to therapy almost every week for the last 5 years and it has done so many wonderful things for me and my growth as a person, but one of the best things about it, is that it really makes you think about simple things like “having an off week”. So as I’m sitting in my telehealth session with my therapist really giving time to thinking about why I was feeling so overwhelmed, I went back to the beginning of my week. I started off my week by already feeling behind because I had a hectic weekend and end of the previous week. Because of that I already felt behind for this upcoming week. When I am feeling behind, I start to cut corners. I start to skip the things that I don’t think I “need” to do. For me specially, that means, I skip reading in the morning, I skip doing 10 minutes of yoga when I wake up, not journaling or meditating. During the day I “don’t have time” to go for a 30 min walk outside.
As I was describing how I just felt so out of control the entire week, and not feeling like I could focus on anything or get anything done, my therapist says it sounds like your nervous system was dysregulated. When she said that to me, everything made sense. Sometimes you really need the vocabulary around your experiences to accept them. Because once she said that, I said yes that’s exactly what was happening, and it makes sense because I’ve done nothing this week to try and keep it in balance. All those things I was skipping are really important for me in order to help keep my nervous system regulated.
Phycology Today does a great job of describing what it feels like to have a dysregulated nervous system.
Nervous system dysregulation can be difficult to explain and equally difficult to experience. These feelings can trigger deep shame, leading to a cycle that is reinforced by the same feelings of dread that the person is trying to escape. Because of these intense and unpleasant emotional and physical experiences, some compare a dysregulated nervous system to simultaneously having one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake while trying to function.
It’s so hard, even as someone who knows to prioritize my mental health, to remember that I need to do specific things to help my mind if I want to be productive. But it’s so easy to just take these simple things away when you feel overwhelmed. And by not doing them, it just makes things worse. A simple walk can really get my head out of a worry spiral. Taking 30 minutes to go outside in nature breathe the fresh air, and move my body can save a whole afternoon of being lost in my head.
I have a list of things that I need to do that help get my mind in a good space. I have a whiteboard with this list and give a tally next to each when I complete one. This helps me at the end of my week visually see how I did. Here are the things that help regulate my nervous system (in no particular order) that I have up on my whiteboard:
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Yoga
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Creative writing
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Journaling
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Lift weights
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Walks outside
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Meditations
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Reading
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Playing my guitar
Those are the things that work for me to keep my nervous system regulated, what are some things that work for you to keep your mental in a good space? Leave a comment below!
Do what moves you!
-Gino
If you are looking for a therapist in your area Phycology Today is a really great resource to help you find the right therapist. You can just put your zip code in and start reading profiles of licensed therapists near you.