Scared? Gentle Pathways to Greater Ease and Calm

Last week I caught some fear.

I'd posted about a support call on social media and wound up checking on it (and social media) more than I normally do. Woof, there was lots of intense and extreme stuff on there.

I had some conversations with scared people and a lot of empathy for the changes our federal workforce is experiencing. There's a wavelength to fear and scarcity, and I tuned into it.

I also had some personal concerns about the impacts of current events.

All of this led me to noticing that I was feeling low.

I was at the gym and found myself forcing a smile, which is not my normal state. My system usually runs pretty happy, and 99% of the time I am genuinely smiling when I'm at the gym.

I took that irregular experience as a cue that my system needed some support and turned my attention to righting my personal ship.

Here are some of the things I did to help myself.

1) Honor what's happening

I took some time to acknowledge the fear I was feeling and the losses I was experiencing.

We're going through some plate tectonic level changes in our government, and fast.

One of the losses I've been feeling is a loss of a general sense of stability and trust in our political leadership. I felt a loss of security around the arts and in some summer travel plans I'd been making.

So I named those losses and acknowledged that it made sense to be feeling scared and sad.

This helped, but just being with my thoughts and feelings didn't get me all of what I needed. The key to feeling better rested in my body.


2) Provide safety to the body

We aren't really meant to live in a perpetually stressed state. It's a setting that we can use at times, but in general our bodies work best when we are in a calmer state.

I knew that I was dysregulated and that I needed to get back into a regulated nervous system state.

It doesn't help me or anybody else to be in a state of paralysis or generalized fear.

The way to get back into physical regulation is to let the body know that it's safe in this moment. Being in nature or in a safe community are great ways to support this process. We need each other to regulate, and you don't need to do it all on your own.

So I made it a priority to get myself into a hatha yoga class. It just so happened the teacher at this class held space for us to feel safe, connected, and for me to come back into my body. The class signaled to my system that I was safe in this moment and that it was ok to relax.

Being in this environment reminded me that there are lots of good, kind people in the world independent of what's happening on our bigger stages.

Once I tended to my needs I was able to go about my life with much greater ease. I did have some residual fatigue from being in a more stressed state, but that worked through.


If you've been feeling overwhelmed or out of sorts, you can check out a few of my favorite online resources that support regulation below to get a quick fix of calm!

Gentle yoga, going for a walk, reaching out to a friend, or plugging into a safe community space are other great ways to support yourself.

In addition, if you're in a spot in life where you aren't feeling super supported right now (it happens and it's going around big time), I'd love for you to plug into one of my Clarity Circles as a way to feel safe, calmer, and less alone.

You'll have a weekly touchpoint of support with some other wonderful folks (and me!) to boost you up as we all navigate this year.