Contents
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The nervous system sends communication throughout your whole body, by using all of the nerve endings in your body to control how we react with the outside world. When a traumatic experience triggers the nervous system it goes into fight or flight mode and this is why many of us feel stuck. You may be perceived as lazy because of this phenomenon, that you aren’t trying as much as you can.
This post explores how the nervous system works such as the parts of the nervous system, the cells that control our daily activities and most importantly the communication it has with our brains. By taking a deeper look into myself recently the nervous system plays a big part in how people interact and approach different situations and this can change after triggers. During this process, I have come to understand that the most important kind of healing does not come from the Dr. office but begins from within.
Healing Your Nervous System, Change Your Approach to Life
Ever since recognizing that trauma and triggers I had after my brain injury, I tried everything I could to correct my trauma.
- Meditation
- Therapy
- Journaling
- Blogging
- Manifestation
- Perspective change
But I always felt that even though I was feeling safe and secure in my life, doing what made me happy. There was still something missing. I could not interact with the world in the way that I wanted to. Choosing to be happy at certain moments, going out with my friends, interacting with strangers. It was something that I could not do.
I began by sorting my circadian rhythm by waking up and not going on my phone for 10 minutes in the morning and having daylight sooner when I woke up instead of laying in a dark room having blue light stimulate my brain. I also began to drink peppermint teas at night to wind down.
But I didn’t know much on the nervous system.
Therefore, I had to do some digging into my subconscious and shadow work. A lot of researching online and I finally found that the nervous system controls, more than you think.
And that was something I had to research to understand exactly how I am designed.
That leads me to this blog post, I thought hey why not write about this new interesting thing I am learning about.
The Nervous System
The nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord, and nerves that carry electrical signals from the brain to other parts of the body when we feel pain. These electrical signals are carried in cells called neurons and you have two types of neurons: motor neurons and sensory neurons.
Sensory neurons: These neurons send information of what is happening around us back to our brain.
Motor neurons: These carry instructions through our bodies so we can appropriately react (such as danger)
How Trauma Impacts The Nervous System
During or after trauma the Sympathetic nervous system is activated (fight or flight response). When this occurs our stress hormones are released and can make our heart rate and blood pressure increase- all to prepare our body for if we have to run away from the threat.
After long periods of a recurring trauma or trigger, our nervous system can go into overdrive. Therefore, leading to mental health issues and chronic stress.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System
This nervous system controls our ability to rest and relax and can cause a freeze response.
Sound familiar?
Well, this is when the body perceives a threat. “Functional freeze is a survival response where individuals become emotionally and physically numb due to overwhelming stress, chronic exhaustion, or unresolved trauma.” (khironclinics, 2024)
Why Is It So Hard To Heal From Trauma
Trauma can effect how the nervous system and the brain function. Therefore, leading to dysregulation and the brain and body can be stuck in survival mode.
The amygdala that controls fear can become overactive and areas made for calming down can become underactive this can make your body exhausted and it is harder to return to a relaxed state of wellbeing. (orchestrate,2023)
Trauma is not just a mental experience, it’s stored in the body as physical sensations, muscle tension, and nervous system dysregulation. It can also create neural pathways surrounding the trauma or fear making it hard to have a healthy perspective.
5 Ways I began To Heal My Nervous System, You Can Too
The process of healing your nervous system was a long one for me, as it all begins with realising your trauma. This is the first part and hardest part of coming to terms with yourself and healing your nervous system, getting to know yourself and what exactly it is that makes you feel triggered or involves past trauma you can begin to heal.
Romanticising life
This step for me has changed everything, my whole outlook on life has changed since I began to see the positive side of things, instead of always hating life because of the trauma that I had been reddened with.
For example, my job. now this is something people don’t always see in a good light it is something to make money so they must stay. I have done some reflecting on my job and it turns out I actually love it, I am a swim instructor and I really enjoy working with kids. Because kids are so innocent and they don’t have to worry or most aren’t trauma ridden, so they are easy to talk to.
There is also science that backs looking at the positives in life. This creates new neural pathways in your brain called Neuroplasticity.
Your brain literally rewires itself based on what you focus on. Every time you repeat a thought, you strengthen the neural pathways that hold it. So when you think “I’m not good enough” over and over, your brain makes that thought easier to access. But if you change the thought if you choose something kinder, something stronger your brain starts to build a new route. One that leads to healing.
Movement Of The Body
Another thing I have began, is to start moving my body. I have made it a goal to exercise more in 2025, I started running properly after I was injured at the end of last year. Running for me has been an escape from my own mind as the majority of the time I am too busy focused on when I am going to stop running.
Once again this is repairing my nervous system and rewiring my brain as lately i have been thinking. At one point in my life I was not able to do this and I start to appreciate that I am able to run even if I secretly hate it.
Exercise helps regulate the nervous system by promoting relaxation and reducing stress. It can stimulate the release of “happy hormones” like endorphins, which have mood-boosting and pain-reducing effects. Movement also helps the body maintain homeostasis (balance) by improving the body’s response to physical, metabolic, respiratory, and cardiovascular demands, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Writing your feelings will change the game.
This is something that was a process for me as after my trauma and triggers, I didn’t really know what I enjoyed….
I tried out a few different things but I always came back to writing, I was always good at writing stories in English and making my emotions felt through my words. So I took up journaling to get to understand the underlying feelings I had surrounding my life. After journaling and realising what I enjoy it was as if I had found my purpose, my hobby, something I could do everyday and never get bored of. I started my blog a few years later, to share the deeper parts of myself and my healing journey so that others could read and relate to what I was going through.
Journaling can make it easier for you to process emotions, as it enables you to think clearly and more thoroughly. Somehow, writing your feelings down helps you be more analytical. you can also be more open as you are not worried about feedback or criticism
Doing Things That Make You Feel Confident And More YOU!
In 2025, it became my mission to do things that make me felt the most like myself. As it is something that I hadn’t felt in such a long time, I felt like an alien in my own skin (Press and Journal,2025), like I was an impostor and I didn’t fit in anywhere. This was hard for me to do at first the solo outings, doing what I loved, the judgment from others. But after a while I decided that none of the judgment mattered as I was the happiest i have ever felt just being me!
When we feel confident, the brain releases chemicals in our brain like dopamine, which can improve mood and reduce anxiety, while doing things we love activates the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to relaxation and a sense of calm.
Therapy
This might be one of the most important ones I have left to last.
Yes knowing yourself is important but with the amazing techniques that can be done in therapy nowadays. You don’t only learn more about your triggers and heal your nervous system it develops ways of improving your overall well-being.
For me therapy was something I had once I left the hospital to learn how to get my confidence back to speak to people. This time is something that I cant remember exactly as I havent unlocked the part of my brain that dealt with the trauma of talking, bgut i know i will get there.
The second time was when I was 17 years old, it came just before I moved. Some people would say that was meant to happen. All of the trauma that I had finally processed about the hospital and it was finally time to talk about it. I used the betterhelp website as face to face was daunting for me, so we phoned every week and spoke about how it felt to have life catching up to me after my traumatic experience.
Therapy can significantly help in the healing process by promoting resilience through various techniques. Specifically, somatic therapies, mindfulness practices, and talk therapies like CBT and DBT can help individuals better understand and manage their nervous system responses to stress and trauma.
Conclusion
After, truly looking into the nervous system. I feel like I have unlocked a part of my self that needed to be understood, not only does talking about my story help me to feel more like myself as it is apart of me. But I have learned about myself and why I have acted the way I have done in my past and a way I can make it better.
Through different practices of getting to know yourself, by changing your perspective and looking at everything in a positive light can make the world seem like a better place creating new neural pathways. Beginning to move your body in a way that makes you feel good to release happy hormones, writing to understand the way you think in a safe space away from judgment and criticism, doing things that make you feel like you and going to therapy. Can all help to rewire your nervous system and brain helping you to live a happy life away from fight or flight and functional freezing
If you relate to any of this blog post let me know because you are not alone.
Remember it all starts with self love
-M
Resources
Agbeja, A. (2025) Understanding the impact of complex trauma on the nervous system and how to heal, Tim Fletcher Co. Available at: https://www.timfletcher.ca/blog/the-effects-of-complex-trauma-on-the-nervous-system (Accessed: 17 August 2025).
Morton , A. (2025) Why her brain injury made Highland Teen Morgan feel like an alien at school, Press and Journal . Available at: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/6821738/brain-injury-highland-teen-feel-alien-school/ (Accessed: 17 August 2025).
Fry, B. (2025) Functional freeze: Emotions after trauma, Khiron Clinics. Available at: https://khironclinics.com/blog/functional-freeze-emotions-after-trauma/ (Accessed: 17 August 2025).
Understanding trauma and the nervous system: An interconnected web (2023) Orchestrate Healthcare. Available at: https://www.orchestratehealth.com/understanding-trauma-and-the-nervous-system-an-interconnected-web/ (Accessed: 17 August 2025).
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