The beautiful lyrics from Canadian singer songwriter, Jann Arden “feet on ground, heart in hand” have been looping through my mind over and over the past 72 hours. The need to be grounded and centered is begging for my attention.
A mashup of feelings continues to overwhelm and numb me, all while I simultaneously silently (and not so silently) scream my outrage. I have been channeling thoughts and feelings into art and also have spent many hours feeling as though I am in a frozen state.
I am not alone or unique in this. We are seeing and experiencing things both first hand and through media (social or otherwise) that we were not meant to casually see before carrying on with our typical daily routines.
The town I live and work in is still recovering from the sudden, tragic, catastrophic and deadly flood on July 4, 2025. For many of us, we are just now starting to catch our breath and come up for air since the flood, only to be inundated with what is going on at the state, national and global level.
We were not mean to see video after video of the flood, search and rescue efforts and the damage that was done. We were living in it. Yet, the footage continued on a 24/7 loop.
We were not meant to see videos of humans being shot over our morning coffee before heading off to work.
We were not meant to see schools ambushed and scared children being detained by government agencies, before sending our own children off to school.
Our nervous systems are in overdrive and likely are falling into one of several responses: fight, flight, freeze or fawn. They were designed to keep us safe from short, critical, emergent situations. They were not meant to be continually activated for sustained daily living.
If you are like me, you may have disrupted sleep, disrupted appetite, muscle tension, restlessness, feel on edge, looping thoughts, a brain that won’t turn off. Those are all natural responses to stress and trauma and nervous systems being activated.
I want to remind you (us) all, that we need to find moments to regulate and tend to ourselves. While that may feel selfish or unimportant compared to what we are seeing, we need to in order to remain healthy functioning people. We are in this for the long haul and need to ensure we are caring for ourselves.
Dishes piled up because you haven’t had the energy to do them? Set a timer for 5 minutes and do what you can.
Haven’t been able to shower in days? Get in there and at least rinse off; once you’re in you can decide how long you spend in there soaping yourself off.
Haven’t been outside in days? Set a timer and stand with your face to the sun for 2 minutes for some fresh air. If it feels good, stay out there longer.
We have to start somewhere. And the best place to start is calming our nervous systems so we can continue on to fight the battle ahead, in whatever way that feels safe for you to do.
Please take good care.
