If you’ve been on social media lately you may have seen the “My nervous system doesn’t know the difference between” trend. One of the best ones I’ve seen is “My nervous system doesn’t know the difference between being chased by a gunman and having to line my wheels up to the track at the car wash.” This is so very true. I avoid car washes with tracks like the plague. It was difficult for me to line my car up before, but now it’s basically impossible with my depth perception issues even with the nice car wash attendant looking on and guiding me, but I digress.

I’ve been seeing these videos all over social media and it got me thinking about my own nervous system and how dramatic its responses are. I am supposed to be using body positive language, so I’ll change out dramatic for “turned up.” According to the doctors at Mayo Clinic, Post Covid Syndrome affects the central nervous system and basically turns up the central nervous system’s reaction dial. It’s like when you turn up the volume in your car.. my central nervous system is perpetually stuck at one volume.. loud. My central nervous system reacts as if everything is a threat. I eat a new food and my central nervous system mounts a reaction as if I’ve eaten something harmful to my body. I try a new lotion and my central nervous system sounds the alarm bells and activates an emergency response. It’s at a level 10 most of the time.

Living with a nervous system at a level 10 all of the time is about a much fun as it sounds. It causes the array of symptoms that I deal with and it’s also why there’s no real stability in how I’ll feel day to day. It’s also why a lot of my therapies are geared towards turning off the fight-flight switch in my body that has been permanently stuck on “On” since August 2022. I use a grounding mat, meditation, breath work, journaling, time in nature, etc along with my other therapies and medications to help turn that switch off and to help treat the symptoms that come with my central nervous system essentially being damaged. It’s like when your computer gets a virus and the hard drive never quite works the same again or in some cases shuts down completely. My central nervous system got a dose of virus with a side of toxic mold and has never worked the same again.

Because I know first hand just how bad living in fight-flight is for one’s nervous system I can get particularly preachy about the importance of self care during times of stress, upheaval, challenges, etc in one’s life. None of us are immune to stressful periods in our lives, but it’s critical for us to know how to manage stress in a way that doesn’t leave lasting negative effects on our bodies. Now there’s not enough self care in the world that could keep what happened to me from happening as I got a virus and it wreaked havoc on my body, but I can feel the difference in how I feel on the days I prioritize self-care and the days I don’t.

I know self-care is such a buzz word and many people think they don’t have time for self care or really know what self care looks like. I am not a self-care expert so take this definition with a grain of salt, but to me self care is whatever brings you joy, grounds you, and helps you get in touch with the most authentic part of your self. it doesn’t have to be 30 minutes of meditation and chanting although the monks are onto something when it comes to the benefits of meditation and chanting. Self-care can be stepping outside for 5 minutes and soaking up some sunshine. It can be giving yourself 10 minutes of silence in your day. It can be reading one chapter of a book. When it comes to self-care, a little bit goes a long way. You don’t have to devote hours to it and there’s no wrong or right way to care for yourself. You don’t have to be some enlightened, zen-like person to practice self-care. Take it from one who is nowhere near enlightened of zen-like all of the time.. you know this to be true if you’ve ever ridden in a car with me. My road rage is next level although I do have funny one-liners I yell at cars. It’s both a skill and a curse.

The truth is you only have one body and one nervous system and you’re stuck with both for the rest of your life. Tending to your body and your nervous system are free gifts you can give yourself and I would argue, the most important gifts you can ever give yourself… besides of course any kind of baby animal. If you have a choice between your nervous system and a baby animal.. always choose the baby animal.