Hi Reader -
Yesterday I had surgery on my head.
I have been telling my family it was brain surgery for increased sympathy, but really it was surgery on my scalp to remove 5 large cysts that have been bringing me misery.
I talk a lot about the nervous system, and how our body can react to events in our life as if they are life or death...
While most events in our lives don't threaten our physical life, they absolutely can threaten our social life. The body doesn't really know the difference.
Physical death? Social Death? It can feel like the same thing.
This is why we can go into a full-on panic attack at what someone may think about a choice we made, or we can freeze at the thought of public speaking or putting our work out into the world...
We fear we might die socially. It's all the same to the nervous system.
When I was at the Doctor's yesterday and received nearly 20 shots in my head for localized anesthesia, my body started to panic.
I went into my breathing tools to stay calm.
When I started walking to the operating room, my whole body started shaking. I kept up my breathing tools and started to do havening (a technique of caressing your hands to signal safety to the body that I learned from Kate Northrup).
Eventually, after breathing, havening, and counting to 10 over and over, my body began to relax and allow the surgery to take place.
I was so grateful to have a whole list of tools that I could use in a moment of stress to be able to manage my experience. While I'm not in surgery every day, I felt like I could co-create with my medical team to help support myself.
This is what I'm talking about when I say that Kate Northrup's Nervous System Tools translate into every part of your life. And I'm so happy to give a detailed insight into my own journey using her work in this week's podcast.
I'm giving a full, honest review of Kate's Relaxed Money program.
- Honest in what I think of her work.
- Honest in what my own results have been.
- Honest in what type of student I was... (It's not what you might think).
After I left the Doctor's office, I got another nervous system surprise.
I don't know why in the world I assumed that I could carry on with my life, "business as usual", immediately after having surgery???
I had to drive my daughter to dance rehearsal, and because everything had gone longer, I was now late and didn't have time to even run in the house for pain meds.
"I'll be fine."
Famous last words.
We were late. There was rush hour traffic. And my anesthesia was completely worn off. My body thought I was going to die from the pain. And not only that, I was so outrageously restless that I kept shaking my arms, hands, and feet (which is quite the feat while driving.)
I managed to get my daughter to dance, and I parked the car and called my husband. He answered, and I burst into full-on sobbing.
There's nothing quite like getting a phone call from someone in a total meltdown.
Thankfully, because of all that I have learned about the nervous system, I knew what my body was doing. Having surgery is a big deal (even if we can downplay it as a simple procedure, our bodies aren't thrilled with being cut open or having drugs).
I knew what I was experiencing was a buildup of stress, and my body needed to discharge.
The discharge was the shaking and the tears. Nothing was wrong; it was actually the exact healthy response that a body should do after such an experience. This was the completion of the "stress cycle".
I simply told my husband between sobs, "I am safe and I'm okay. Everything is fine. I just need to cry." And cry I did for about five minutes.
After asking him to pick up my daughter so I could go right home instead of waiting around, he stayed with me on the phone while I drove home humming.
Yes humming.
Not because I was suddenly happy, but because humming is a regulating tool for the nervous system. It was my coping tool for making it home safe without going into more panic.
It felt like the longest drive home of my life, but I made it safely. I took some Tylenol (thanking the Universe for modern medicine), ate some food, and then finally got the blessed moment of lying on the couch for the rest of the night.
All that to say, life is stressful.
Whether we have physical threats to our body or perceived social threats, our body goes through a lot. Understanding how our nervous systems work and knowing how to co-create with our bodies a harmonious cycle between activation and regulation is one of the most important life skills we can learn. It should be part of our Life Skills 101 training that we (never) get.
If you are curious to learn more about these tools, be sure to check out my time-sensitive podcast of this week's episode. These are tools we all need to know.
LISTEN HERE.
You are loved.
Delightfully
brooke
P.S. This week's podcast is only available as audio...I still look like I had surgery on my head yesterday and am attempting a day of doing less, so no YouTube this week!😉
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Brooke Snow Fine Arts, LLC
1111 Mystic Way, Logan, UT 84321