When stress takes over, clarity can feel impossible. In this personal reflection on anxiety, overwhelm, nervous system dysregulation, and emotional spiraling, I share how returning to the breath created space, grounded my energy, and brought me back to myself one quiet moment at a time.
When the Nervous System Takes Over
Recently, I spent a few weeks thrashing at the cage of some struggles. External stressors ignited an internal spiral and, no matter how hard I tried to climb out, I kept sinking. I was unable to complete a thought, constantly distracted, misscheduling, not sleeping, and finding it impossible to be still. Mornings between 1:30AM and 5AM were spent trying to calm my nervous system. I felt unable to speak, but couldn’t stop talking. I felt unable to connect with my own energy, let alone any around me. For weeks, I cried, prayed, talked, walked, researched and scrolled. So. Much. Scrolling.
Consistently searching for peace is like holding your breath and asking for air. All you really need to do is breathe.
The Quiet Guilt of Knowing Better
In addition to the overwhelm of thoughts and emotions, was an underlying guilt. Every day I ask people to step away from their storm and feel for answers instead of thinking. Through coaching and Reiki I guide towards surrendering into quiet and trust. Yet in my own life, I was relentlessly reaching outside for comfort to soothe the unrest I felt within. As someone who deeply values honesty and openness, this feeling of hypocrisy was a very heavy straw on my proverbial camel.
The Moment the Clouds Broke
One morning after a particularly fitful night, I did a 10 minute meditation designed to become more available, to tap into creating space within in order to be more present. For whatever reason, this was the switch that flipped me back into myself. This moment of clarity didn’t answer my questions. It didn’t remove the challenges that I was facing, but it did lift the weight. The winds of my internal tornado subsided, and I was able to start cleaning the rubble that it had left behind. The noise of my own thoughts, of all of the extrinsic thoughts that I had been feeding myself, were quiet again. I wasn’t being a hypocrite. I was being human.
That’s one of the great beauties of life, you never know how or when the clouds will break but they always do if you stop fighting against the sun. And that’s just what I had been doing: fighting. Scrolling, begging, clawing for answers and screaming for peace are counterintuitive. When we do this, when we consistently listen to the truths of others, in life or on a screen, we are simply drowning out our own voice. We are fighting our own intrinsic knowing and getting further from our own truth. Clarity doesn’t come from force, it comes from space. It comes from within you. Consistently searching for answers and peace is like holding your breath and asking for air. All you really need to do is breathe.
Returning One Breath at a Time
If we were living in a culture of quiet surrender, this would still be a challenging accomplishment. In this world of wide webs and 30-second gurus it’s nearly impossible. Practices like meditation, Reiki, yoga, sound bowls, and breathwork are excellent tools to help return to this space. In the moments when they are, or even just feel, unavailable you always have your breath. This simple, natural process doesn’t require a perfect mindset or a quiet room. It only requires a willingness to surrender and come back. In his book, A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle mentions that being aware of your breath “takes attention away from thinking and creates space.”
As you move forward, inside or outside of your storm, remember to breathe. Your breath is always here for you, a simple anchor to return to even once or twice each day. The more that you return, the more organically this steady rhythm will become the calm center of your inner world. If you do want guided support, I’m always here to walk with you, to help you step out of your own cage and create space within and return to yourself without judgement. To start though, at this very moment, while you read these words, just breathe.
References
- Bentley, T. G. K., et al. (2023). Breathing practices for stress and anxiety reduction: A review of clinical evidence. PMC Journal.
- Hooi, L. Y., et al. (2025). Effects of mindfulness breathing meditation on stress, emotion regulation, and anxiety. Scientific Reports.
- Shields, G. S., et al. (2016). The effects of acute stress on core executive functions: A meta-analytic review. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 68, 242–254.
- Starr, L. R., et al. (2015). Co-rumination, excessive reassurance seeking, and mental health outcomes. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 34(5), 436–445.
Need a Little Clarity?
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