10/13/2024
For all my friends directly impacted by either of the recent hurricanes…. That “off” feeling you have? That’s your sympathetic nervous system responding to the collective trauma we just experienced. We have all been impacted in various ways, some more disruptive and long lasting than others, but we all feel stressed right now. Here are some of my off the cuff thoughts:
1. Do NOT compare your situation to anyone else’s. You are allowed to feel your feelings without guilt or shame, while also having empathy for others and their specific situation.
2. Your response to this specific situation is influenced by so many things including your current level of disruption, stress you may have felt prior to the hurricane, your trauma history…. Many things. Again- do not compare your reactions to this to how you think others are reacting.
3. Part of healing after a disaster is taking care of yourself. You have to calm your sympathetic nervous system down in order to do the things that must be done. In order to do that, you have to get your brain out of fight, flight, freeze mode by reminding it that you are safe. This is where grounding activities come in handy.
- the MOST important part of this is to breathe. There is a reason this is a cliche. It’s the first step.
- I always tell people to think about their senses when grounding themselves. This anchors you to the current time- a time when you are safe. A really common method for this is- identifying 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
- physical activity
- engaging in community- whether that’s family, friends, neighbors…. Just being around other people.
This is a good article discussing the stress response, as well as some things you can do to help reduce it. You can also google “grounding activities” for more ideas. Feel free to share if you think this will be helpful. 💜
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
