46 - Become Less Triggered By Life

In today’s episode, we are diving deep into why nervous system regulation is so important and why it impacts far more than just stress levels.

Your nervous system is the lens through which you experience life. It affects how you receive information, the meaning you assign to situations, how emotionally reactive you are, how safe you feel in your body, and ultimately how you respond to your life.

We talk about:

• Why the same situation can feel completely different depending on your nervous system state
• How dysregulation causes us to assign dangerous or catastrophic meaning to neutral situations
• Why your brain begins searching for evidence to confirm stress, fear, rejection, and disappointment
• How your internal state creates your external reality
• A simple 5-4-3-2-1 orienting exercise you can use anytime you feel overwhelmed or anxious

This episode is a powerful reminder that healing your nervous system changes the way you experience your entire life.

✨ Wildly Regulated: my group coaching program designed to help you regulate your nervous system, stop living in survival mode, and become the version of you that moves through life feeling calmer, freer, and more intentional.

Doors open soon, and we kick things off at the end of June.

Join the priority waitlist here!

If this episode resonated with you, make sure to share it with someone who may need it and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Connect with me on Instagram

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Nourished Living Podcast, where we go beyond diets and quick fixes and reconnect with what it really means to feel good in your body. I'm Courtney Podany, nutritional therapist, personal trainer, energy worker, Type 1 diabetic, and mom, here to guide you toward health that feels simple, sustainable, and aligned. Each episode will explore how to nourish your body, balance your energy, and strengthen your intuition so you can thrive and actually understand what your body is telling you. So grab your favorite drink, take a deep breath, and let's jump into your new nourished life Welcome back to the Nourished Living Podcast. I am your host, Courtney Podany. Today, we are talking about something that honestly changes the way you experience your entire life, and that is by regulating your nervous system. However, before we get into it, I just want to let you know if this episode resonates with you even in the slightest and you realize just how much your nervous system impacts your emotions, reactions, relationships, and overall reality, Wildly Regulated is where we begin changing the lens through which you experience your life. Wildly Regulated is my group coaching program designed to help you regulate your nervous system, rewire old patterns, stop living in survival mode, and become the version of you that moves through life freely, unbothered, and intentional instead of reacting automatically or dramatically. When your body finally feels safe, everything changes. And we are kicking things off in just over a month, so the end of June, and I am so excited and would be truly honored for you to come along that journey with me. So if you'd like in, make sure to add your name to the priority waitlist now so you can get early access and all of the details before doors officially open. The link for that is in the show notes. Okay, so we are back. I think a lot of people hear the words nervous system regulation and think that it just means feeling calm, doing breathwork, meditating, or just knowing how to manage your stress well. And yes, those things can help, but nervous system healing goes so much deeper than that. Your nervous system is honestly the lens through which you experience life. This is why it is so important and, in my personal opinion, non-negotiable If you are new here and not too sure about what it means to regulate your nervous system, well, our nervous system affects how you receive information, the meaning you assign to situations, how emotionally reactive you are, how safe you feel in your body, and ultimately, how you respond to your life. Two people can experience the exact same situation and have completely different reactions based on the state of their nervous system. And honestly, even you can experience the same exact situation differently depending on the day and your internal state. One day, your boss can send you a short email and you think, "Okay, no big deal." However, on another day where your nervous system is overwhelmed, dysregulated, stressed, exhausted, and suddenly your brain goes, "Oh my gosh, are they mad at me? Did I do something wrong?" Same email, different nervous system state. Or maybe an unexpected expense comes up. When you're regulated, you handle it, adjust, and move forward. But when you're dysregulated, it can feel catastrophic. Your mind begins to spiral into fear, scarcity, panic, and worst-case scenarios. This is why nervous system regulation matters so much. Dysregulation causes us to assign dangerous, negative, or emotionally charged meaning to things that are in actuality neutral. And once that cycle starts, it becomes extremely hard to get out of because then your body starts expecting stress, expecting danger or disappointment or rejection. And when your nervous system expects those things, your brain starts filtering reality through that lens, and you literally begin looking for evidence to confirm your fears. You are now searching for stress, for danger, for disappointment, and for rejection. And you might not even be aware that this is happening because it's happening at the subconscious level. However, your nervous system is constantly firing, whether you like it or not. And here's the important part. Your internal state creates your external reality. I'm going to repeat that again, because if you only walk away with one thing from this episode, let it be this. Your internal state creates your external reality The energy, emotions, thoughts, and reactions you keep on repeat in your head shape your decisions, behaviors, relationships, and outcomes. If every challenge is interpreted as danger, if every inconvenience becomes a crisis, or if every unknown creates fear, that state starts becoming your normal reality. You start creating a life built around survival instead of alignment. And I think this is where people get stuck. They then try to think positive, do some mindset work, or even try controlling their thoughts. But if the body itself does not feel safe, the nervous system will continue pulling them back into old patterns. The body always wins. This is why nervous system healing is so important. When you become more regulated, life genuinely feels different. You stop assigning catastrophic meaning to every little thing. You stop feeling emotionally hijacked by situations. You stop reacting from fear or urgency or survival. And instead, you gain the ability to witness your emotions without becoming consumed by them. When you are regulated, it becomes easier to pause before reacting, handle stress without spiraling, move through unknowns with more trust, feel emotionally steady, make clearer decisions, communicate better, feel safer in your body, and honestly, enjoy your life more. You realize that not everything needs an emotional reaction. Not everything is an emergency. And not everything that feels slightly uncomfortable means danger. Not every thought is true. Just because you have a thought does not make it fact or true Thoughts are actually just brain activity. Once I learned this concept, it completely changed me. Just because you have a thought in your head, no matter how many times you repeat that thought, it does not make it true. It does not make it a fact just because you thought it And I just want to point out that emotional regulation is not about becoming emotionless. It is about you being in control of your emotions, not your emotions being in control of you. It's about learning how to feel your emotions without becoming consumed by them. They are like waves. They come and then they go. And one of the biggest shifts will happen when you stop asking, "How do I control everything around me?" And instead start asking, "How can I create more safety within myself?" I promise you, when you are regulated, you become free. The unknown still occur. The unknown still occurs and things still happen. That is life. But you will no longer interpret every situation as a threat or live in the mindset that horrible things are happening to you. So if you have been feeling constantly stressed, reactive, anxious, emotionally exhausted, or stuck in cycles of worry and fear, this work matters. Your nervous system matters. And healing it can and will change everything. Before we end today, I want to give you a simple one-minute nervous system reset you can use any time you are feeling overwhelmed. This is an example of how you can begin healing your nervous system. The more you practice, the better it'll... This is an orienting activity, also known as five, four, three, two, one. This is effective to help bring you into the present moment. A lot of times when we are overwhelmed or anxious, we are living in the future, worrying what the future will bring. So all you have to do is take a moment and look around the room that you're in. You will name five things that you can see, four things that you can touch, three things that you hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This reminds your body, "I am here. I am safe." So I'm going to go through, um, an example for you. So right now, I see a pair of shoes, my computer screen, the mouse, a necklace, and a mirror. I feel my podcast microphone, the shirt I'm wearing on my arms, the carpet beneath my feet, and the chair supporting me. I can hear my voice, birds outside, and my kids playing in the living room. I can smell my coffee and the candle I have burning. I can taste my coffee. Simple but powerful. I promise you, you should try it. And every time you practice regulation, you are teaching your body that safety is possible and over time, that changes the way you experience your life So like I had mentioned earlier in this episode, if anything here resonated with you at all, I highly recommend that you at least add your name to the priority wait list for Wildly Regulated so you can learn more and get all the updates before things officially kick off in June. The link for that is in the show notes. Well, thank you so much for being here with me today. I will see you in the next episode Thanks for hanging out with me today and tuning in to the Nourished Living Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found something you can start implementing right away to kickstart your nourished transformation. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from these insights. You can also connect with me over on Instagram for more resources and support. Until next time, stay nourished