09/05/2025
🍃 “You can’t numb selectively. When you shut down, when you shut down grief or pain, you end up dimming joy, love, and connection too.” - Frank Anderson 🍃
Numbing yourself can feel like relief - like finally shutting off the noise.
And in the moment, it is relief. It’s your nervous system saying, “This is too much right now, let’s press pause.”
But here’s the truth: you can’t numb selectively.
The same wall that quiets grief, anger, or pain also dulls joy, love, and connection.
Your body is doing its best to protect you- but protection isn’t the same as healing.
Numbness may keep you safe for a season, but if you stay there, it slowly drains the color from life. You stop feeling the lows and the highs.
Real healing happens when those emotions get a safe place to move through you instead of staying locked inside. That might look like talking it out, letting your body release what it’s held, or working with a therapist who can guide you through the layers of grief and pain.
Because your emotions aren’t enemies to be silenced - they’re signals that need tending. And the more you learn to feel them safely, the more room you create for joy, love, and connection to return.
