Nervous System First

Sometimes, a person decides it’s time to put their nervous system first. Let’s just say, some of us have not been having a great year. Some of us may have thought we already felt about as bad as we could feel, and then were surprised to find that the election threw us into a deeper anxiety spiral.

In our house, with multiple chronic illnesses at play and all the stress and chaos that comes with those, anxiety isn’t exactly new. But it was newly bad in a way that made me decide it was time for some changes.

Honestly, the changes aren’t even new, it’s really just me returning to practices that I know support me, help stabilize me, and yet are so difficult to remember, and to keep prioritizing day after day, while so much else clamors for my attention.

I could have called this back to basics. But in my mind, I’ve been calling it “nervous system first,” like the old bit about putting on your own oxygen mask first, which we’ve heard and yet…how often do we do it? Or how often does it get expressed as buying ourself something, or some other surface action that feels kinda good but only in a way that vanishes quickly? This is not a bullet list to solve your life, sorry if that’s what you’re hoping. But perhaps you could use some of these reminders, too. Nervous system first is a reminder to myself that if I’m frazzled and sparking and popping like a generator that’s overheated and melting down, then everything else will be WAY HARDER.

Nervous system first means that when I get up in the morning, I do some breathwork before I even get out of bed (hey, it’s really cold here ok?). I’m using the free version of Insight Timer, but there’s lots of places you could find breathwork, also known in the Ayurvedic tradition as pranayama. Five minutes, ten minutes. It seems too simple to work, which is part of why I fall out of the habit so easily.

Nervous system first means that then I get up, feed the cats, turn on the heat, and do some exercises that are nourishing for the nervous system. Some morning that means yoga, especially poses like forward bends and inversions, some mornings it means something more cardiovascular with music that makes me smile, but still means not pushing myself to the max, not straining to my limits, but moving in a way that is enjoyable.

Nervous system first means that then I actually eat some damn breakfast before I get swept into all.the.things. Breakfast that includes some fruits or vegetables, some grounding protein, a beverage (usually nettle and milky oats tea these days, thinking about nervous system nourishment). And trying to write at least a little every day. Again, not claiming to have invented anything amazing here, you’re just overhearing me sending these reminders to myself.

Even a week of this made a big difference for me, and made it easier to distinguish between other actions that were either going to put myself further into hyper-activated mode, or actions that would allow me to keep moving “forward” (whatever that even means) at a slower pace, with more breaks, without the same level of feeling driven by fear and worry and have I mentioned anxiety?

Hoping you get some nourishing moments in these weeks where the dark and cold pull us towards rest and replenishment. If you’re looking for a supported space for writing in the new year, join Priscilla Wathington and myself for The Front Burner, 4 weeks of daily writing prompts and more.

With love,

Adrie