Last year, around this time, I released a vlog that described how learning a second language as an adult is analogous to learning how to create nervous system regulation (for the first time) as an adult.
I write “for the first time” in brackets, because for some here, you might’ve gotten an okay early beginning with your primary caregivers, and received a relatively secure and safe start to growing what is called self-regulation of your nervous system (via good enough co-regulation with your caregivers). In this situation, you’ve got some embedded ‘baked-in’ resiliency — kind of like a nervous system ‘savings account,’ which means you can handle a lot of stress, both acute and chronic, and it doesn’t throw your mental, emotional, or physical systems off at all. Sure, there might be a bit of a blip in your acute reaction to stress, or a traumatic event, but you return back to regulation and ease pretty quickly.*
Others, however, may not have had that ‘good enough’ start, and the early nervous system wires that were being laid down got riddled with fear, terror, neglect, abuse, and other big bad scary things, which means they started off with a resiliency level that was low. This means stress of most kinds will cause a negative effect and the ability to bounce back will also be low. It also means, for the most part, that one doesn’t have the ‘language’ of solid healthy self-regulation on board and, as they grow and become a teenager and then an adult, health of all kinds – physical, mental, emotional, relational – declines because the system is stuck in survival mode (those fight, flight, freeze responses).
Okay, now that we have those two scenarios described, let’s get back to today’s video that is a continuation from last year’s vlog …
Last year I talked about the importance of learning the language of the nervous system so that we can achieve greater health, healing, and vitality.
Today I talk about why one doesn’t need to learn different kinds of languages for all the different traumas, hurts, and troubles they are wanting to heal.
We just need to start with ONE.
* I wanted to expand a bit on this point from the first scenario.
Even if someone did have secure and ‘good enough’ co-regulation when young, and has been super good at releasing stress for the most part, from my personal and professional experience, in today’s day and age, with the demands or work, raising families often void of community and solid supportive help, harmful toxins in our environment and food supply, plus an overall culture that does not honour the deep need for rest, rejuvenation, repair, and trauma release on a daily and weekly basis, well, even those who got a good early start can be at risk for burnout and dysregulation of the nervous system.
So, I write this to remind ALL here, that no matter where you fall between these two scenarios, deep nurturing self-care is essential.
