12/12/2025
Have you ever felt like you’re just moving through the motions of each day…
feeling numb, disconnected, or simply getting through?
Like you’re not really living — just surviving?
Chances are, you may be caught in a survival response. You’re not alone, I’ve been there many times. Sometimes, I didn’t even realise it till ages later.
Survival mode can be subtle.
You might notice your body feels constantly on edge or overstimulated.
Maybe you find it hard to slow down, rest, or switch off.
You may feel distant or disconnected from yourself and others.
Perhaps you catch yourself saying “yes” to keep the peace or pleasing others to avoid conflict and stay safe.
You might stay busy just to feel in control, filling every moment so you don’t have to feel what’s underneath.
Or you may simply feel detached from your emotions or your body, like you’re watching life happen rather than living it.
The survival response is the body’s way of keeping you safe, even long after the moment has passed.
We can live in this state for long periods of time, and because the body is so adaptive, it can start to feel completely normal.
Survival mode often develops when the body has had to cope with too much for too long- chronic stress, overwhelm, emotional load, lack of support, childhood conditioning, or moments where it didn’t feel safe to express or feel.
The nervous system adapts.
It learns to stay alert, stay busy, shut down, or disconnect as a way to protect you.
And when this goes on for a long time, it becomes familiar… almost invisible… yet still shapes how you move through the world.
But the body can shift.
You can support yourself out of survival by offering your system what it never had in those overwhelming moments: safety.
Safety through breath, grounding, presence, connection, and allowing your body to finally process what it once had to hold alone.
It takes awareness, gentleness, and commitment,
but once you recognise these patterns, you begin to understand yourself more deeply.
And from there, change and healing becomes possible.