Nervous System 101! None of us needs a reminder of the chaos that was 2020...but maybe we need reminding about the ongoing effect it’s had on our sense of stability and security. Our reality has changed,our sense of physical safety has been threatened and our predictions of what the future may look like have been turned upside down. During 2020 many of our sources of comfort such as meeting up with friends ,getting into nature ,working in a different environment (home!), having our routine completely disrupted and being restricted in what we could and couldn’t do,all added to the upheaval we experienced. During this time, the one thing we all had in common was our nervous systems! It’s job is to scan the environment for safety and based on its summation of whether all is well or danger is looming and prepare us to react accordingly. Suffice to say it’s been on high alert for a long time! Our ability to“regulate “our nervous system ie. come down from “high alert” into optimal functioning depends on those things mentioned above . But now as we are able to gradually start enjoying these pleasurable activities again (Covid safely)some of us still have a heightened sense of anxiety. When we feel a trigger taking us back to 2020 there are things we can do to regulate ourselves by learning to recognize the signals our nervous system is giving us so we can put our efforts into calming ourselves down. I’ll talk about what these are next time! Until then.. xx