Your idea of support isn’t always what your nervous system needs

How many times have you had a sticky situation and resorted to exchanging 47 texts with someone about that situation thinking that’s exactly what you need right now to feel supported in this challenging moment?

Did it help?

Well maybe … But what do you think would have happened if you slowed down and asked your nervous system what it actually needs?

Is it possible that it would allow you to sit down and relate with your inner states?

If you’re feeling stressed out, is it possible that rather than reaching for you phone to see what’s going on on social media, your nervous system needs you to spend time in nature, feeling your feet on the ground, resting, doing a loving kindness meditation?

Or maybe it needs you to reach out to someone who could help you co-regulate your activated nervous system?

Even when we think about healthier kinds of support, we sometimes get stuck with a prescribed set of ideas someone else conjured or that’s a popular trend which doesn't really apply.

Support is individual and can keep changing and evolving.

Your job is to learn how to be the best steward of your nervous system and it’s a lifelong journey.

It’s important to keep checking with the nervous system. Know what it needs for support and don’t assume that what works for others will work for you or that what worked before will work now.