Have you ever felt like you're just going through the motions, physically present but emotionally detached? We dive deep into the often misunderstood world of emotional numbness, shedding light on how this survival mechanism kicks in during trauma or prolonged stress. You'll learn to spot the signs of emotional numbness—such as flat stares, isolation, and a skewed sense of time—and discover practical strategies to reconnect with both yourself and those around you. From incorporating movement and mindfulness into your routine to reducing stressors and ensuring you get plenty of rest, we share actionable tips to guide you on your path to emotional healing. And to remind you that you're not alone, we wrap up with the resonant tune "Numb Little Bug" by Em Beihold.
Picture this: you're barely holding on, feeling disconnected and worn out by life's relentless demands. We explore this paradoxical state where survival instinct overrides emotional engagement, making you feel like you're physically present but emotionally absent. Using vivid metaphors like 'hanging by a thread' and 'sinking with water in the bones,' we unpack the reality of maintaining resilience amidst ongoing mental and emotional fatigue. With heartfelt encouragement and practical advice, we emphasize small yet impactful ways to stay motivated and carry on your journey of self-care and growth. Tune in to find solace and strategies that will help you navigate through these challenging emotions.
Have you ever felt like you're just going through the motions, physically present but emotionally detached? We dive deep into the often misunderstood world of emotional numbness, shedding light on how this survival mechanism kicks in during trauma or prolonged stress. You'll learn to spot the signs of emotional numbness—such as flat stares, isolation, and a skewed sense of time—and discover practical strategies to reconnect with both yourself and those around you. From incorporating movement and mindfulness into your routine to reducing stressors and ensuring you get plenty of rest, we share actionable tips to guide you on your path to emotional healing. And to remind you that you're not alone, we wrap up with the resonant tune "Numb Little Bug" by Em Beihold.
Picture this: you're barely holding on, feeling disconnected and worn out by life's relentless demands. We explore this paradoxical state where survival instinct overrides emotional engagement, making you feel like you're physically present but emotionally absent. Using vivid metaphors like 'hanging by a thread' and 'sinking with water in the bones,' we unpack the reality of maintaining resilience amidst ongoing mental and emotional fatigue. With heartfelt encouragement and practical advice, we emphasize small yet impactful ways to stay motivated and carry on your journey of self-care and growth. Tune in to find solace and strategies that will help you navigate through these challenging emotions.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Self-Care Society podcast with your hosts Celia Williamson, ashley Kuchar, louie Guardiola and Keri Shaw, a podcast devoted to those whose job it is to help others get or remain mentally, physically and emotionally healthy, but who also need to take care of themselves. And how we're going to do this? By first showing you the filtered, pretty version of success, and then the real struggles, real work and raw grit it took to get there, how they took care of themselves and also achieved their goals while doing it Together. We will work with you to improve and maintain your internal health and growth, while helping you achieve your external goals and your next professional achievement in life.
Speaker 2:
And we're excited to show you how to follow your own individual and unique path and achieve the dreams you have, while taking good care of yourself. So let's get started. Hello and welcome to the self-care podcast. My name is Isabel and I will be your host today. Let's talk about the feeling of emotional numbness.
Speaker 2:
Emotional numbness is a form of a mental health condition called dissociation. By itself, dissociation isn't uncommon. Do you remember the last time that you drove to the grocery store and couldn't remember getting there? That's a form of dissociation. In fact, if you've ever zoned out, lost track of time while reading a good book or daydreamed during your afternoon walk, you've experienced a form of dissociation Similar to when you zone out.
Speaker 2:
Emotional numbness happens unconsciously. It's the result of our minds disconnecting from our thoughts, actions, sense of self and sensory experience of the world around us. Joe Nummers is a therapist for UnityPoint and he describes it as a survival mechanism from our sympathetic nervous system. And he describes it as a survival mechanism from our sympathetic nervous system. He says in the face of physical or emotional pain or a traumatic incident, our sympathetic nervous system has three responses Fight, flight or freeze. Emotional numbing is freezing. Our brain shuts down as a protective response to keep us safe when our nervous system is overloaded. So initially, emotional numbing is helpful because it helps calm our overwhelmed minds. Over time, it can be harmful and lead to behaviors with serious consequences to our emotional and our physical well-being. Basically, this is a feeling which might come up when you're struggling, oftentimes with anxiety and depression or grief. Also, medication which can be life-saving for many can also trigger a side effect of emotional numbness.
Speaker 2:
Feeling emotionally numb has a few outward signs people can watch for, whether they're experiencing it themselves or recognizing it in someone else. For example, you might see some flat or blank stares, a dampened sense of excitement, isolating from activities and people and even having a distorted sense of time. According to numbers, when you're emotionally numb, hours can pass and you might not even notice. Or something exciting can happen, like witnessing a home run at a baseball game, and you just don't really feel the same rush or excitement as the crowd around you. But it could also just be that all of the challenges and stressors of daily life have built to a point where you just want to throw your hands in the air and walk away from them. When things happen and happen and happen, and the hits don't stop coming. We all reach a point where we feel completely out of control.
Speaker 2:
There's a song by a singer whose name is MB Hold, called Numb Little Bug. I love listening to this song when I'm feeling this way. I'll play it at the end of the episode, so don't worry. But basically she talks about the feeling of losing touch with her friends and feeling small in a big world. The feeling of not being happy but not being so miserable that you just want to die, just feeling numb and going through the motions, slapping a band-aid on the feeling and hoping it will get better. She calls these her quick repairs and I feel like that's super accurate and, honestly, sometimes that's all you can do in the current moment.
Speaker 2:
When things get really challenging. Sometimes all you can do is keep your head down and get through it. You come out the other side and get that feeling of relief, but until then you just have to go through the motions. Remember to return to the basics Eat food. It doesn't matter if you cook it or what it is, just eat food. It's great if it's healthy, but eat food, drink water as much as you can and try to see the sun at least once a day. Seriously, bare minimum survival mode. Give yourself grace and don't fall into despair.
Speaker 2:
Just because you aren't feeling all the feelings you're normally feeling, you probably aren't even feeling the stress that's kind of buried deep down under the skin, because feeling emotionally numb equates with feeling disconnected. The best thing you can do to stop feelings of dissociation is to connect with people. Other coping mechanisms to reconnect yourself to others might include moving your body, getting some exercise, practicing mindfulness, minimizing any of the stressors around you. So take a look at your schedule and see. You know how you can move things around to give yourself some grace and get plenty of rest. Sometimes you just need to get through the numb days. Other times you need someone else to help you feel connected again. Be patient with yourself, follow your routines and find small ways to reconnect without expecting everything to jump back to normal right away.
Speaker 2:
I know today was a super short episode. Unfortunately I am under the weather so it's difficult to speak for too long. But I am going to play Numb Little Bug for you guys. Hopefully you connect with the song the same way that I did. I think the most important takeaway from the numb little bug song, which I'm going to play for you guys in a second is just that you're not alone in the way that you're feeling.
Speaker 2:
When you feel emotionally numb, it sucks, it's not a fun feeling, but there are other people who are also feeling the same way. It's not. You know that there's something inherently broken around you. It's a response that your body is taking to protect you. So, you know, let your mind protect you from the pain or the trauma or the grief or whatever you're going through. And you know, let your mind protect you from the pain or the trauma or the grief or whatever you're going through. And you know, take the steps that you need to take to reconnect with not only the things that you enjoy, but the people that you care about and the things that make you feel full in life and satisfied and full. Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic day. Thank you so much for listening today.
Speaker 3:
I don't feel a single thing. Have the pills done too much? I've been caught up with my friends in weeks and now we're out of touch. I've been driving in LA and the world it feels too big, like a floating ball that's bound to break Stop my psyche like a twig, and I just wanna see If you feel the same as me.
Speaker 3:
Do you ever get a little bit tired of life? Like you're not really happy but you're gonna die? Like you're hanging by a thread but you gotta survive, cause you gotta survive? Like your body's in the room but you're not really there. Like you have empathy inside but you don't really care. Like you're fresh out of love, but it's been a year. I'm a faster pair, a little bit tired of trying to care and I don't. A little bit tired of trying to get my phone. A little bit tired of quick papers to call. A little bit tired of sinking this water in my boat. I'm barely breathing, trying to stay up, though. So I got these papers to call. Guess, I'm just broken and black, the prescription's on its way With a name I can't pronounce, and the dose I gotta take. Boy, I wish that I could count, cause I just wanna see If this could make me happy.
Speaker 3:
Do you ever get a little bit tired of life? Like you're not really happy but you don't wanna die. Like you're hanging by a thread but you gotta survive, cause you gotta survive. Like your body's in the room but you're not really there. Like you have empathy inside but you don't really care. Like you've got a shot of love but it's getting the air and my plans turn pale but you don't really care. Like you fresh out of love but it's getting me out of my pressure pen. A little bit tired of trying to kill my bones. A little bit tired of quick Reapers too cold. A little bit tired of sinking when there's water in my bones. I'm feeling pretty cold. I'm trying to stay up though, so I got these great, great shoes. Do you ever get a little bit tired of life? Like you know, really happy but just don't want to die, like a numb little bug that's got to survive. That's got to survive.
Speaker 2:
That concludes this week's episode. And remember, it's not selfish, it's self-care.