The Tale of 2 Cities. From a Nervous System Perspective. 

OK, so I am not doing a book review here despite the title. LOL!

I have been fortunate enough to have traveled more than I usually do this year. I flew to 6 different locations from January-November and these last 2 trips have taught me A LOT. 

If you have not read my last blog post on my secret addiction, I recommend checking that one out too as it is related somewhat to this.

In October, I went to see a friend who lived outside of Rochester, NY. She lives on a farm, and LOVES to hike and explore the outdoors. I am very much more of an "indoor" girl, despite actually having grown up in the mountains of NH. While I was there we were never in a rush, drank our coffee very leisurely watching the sun rise each morning, then spent a ton of time in the outdoors exploring some of her favorite hiking spots.

By the end of my visit I was feeling very "unsettled", almost like an addict who was detoxing from their drug of choice. I realized that was exactly what was happening. I was detoxing from the steady stream of stress hormones that I run on daily. This was a HUGE "A-Ha" moment for me. I knew this about myself, but never really experienced several days in a row of this type of peace and calm that I had while in her environment. 

I came home feeling very grounded, calm and realizing that I DO NOT have to continue to run on overdrive 24/7 to be happy and fulfulled.

At the beginning of November I went to visit a friend who I met 2 years ago during one of my coaching courses. We had never met in person and I was so excited to finally see her IRL. She lives about 45 minutes outside of Chicago.

Her life is very much like mine since she too has a teenage daughter and is launching a health coaching business. We are actually currently in a fantastic business program together so were ready to dive into some business chat while we were together too. 

My experience there was very different. We did some running around the first day I was there, since I had a recent injury we kept it fairly low key. The second day of my trip we went into the city(Chicago) and spent the day there. I thoroughly enjoyed my time exploring the city!  She knew all the good places to eat and we had some amazing(and healthy) food. 

We discussed some business stuff the last evening I was there and then I flew back home very early the next day.

With both these friends, we are very much alike but also very different. Which I think makes for a great friendship!

Upon returning from the Chicago trip I felt very disconnected, disjointed and not sure which end was up. 

VERY different experiences. So what does this have to do with the nervous system?

EVERYTHING.

In NY, I was outside in parks, forests and on a farm, taking a much slower pace and my nervous system was "decompressing". I was in parasympathetic(rest and digest) dominance. 

In IL, I was outside some, but in the hustle and bustle of the city and the energy was very different. We were rushing around somewhat and my nervous system was in it's normal "high stress" state. I was in sympathetic(fight/flight/freeze) dominance.

And you see how that affected my overall sense of wellbeing upon my return home. Grounded and calm vs. Unsettled and disconnected. 

This is an area that I am exploring more and more with my clients as well. Because let's face it, you can't heal if your nervous system is not balanced. And all those expensive supplements you are taking and healthy food you are eating won't "work" as well for you if you are constantly in a stressed state! I can't wait to incorporate more nervous system balancing into my own life and helping my clients see the value in it as well. 

"There is no sustained change without changing your baseline" Rollin McCraty