You’re Not Overreacting, You’re Overloaded

If you’ve experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), you know the challenges extend far beyond physical pain and cognitive fog.

You might find yourself crying without warning, snapping at loved ones, or feeling crippling anxiety over small things. You might even have internalized the harsh self-judgment or external criticism that you are “too emotional,” “too sensitive,” or “overreacting.”

This was something that after my brain injury and during my recovery, facing mental health issues is what I struggled with. Not knowing why you feel this why. If there is a problem with you or if you are going to feel this way forever.

It wasn’t until I started looking within myself, at all of my emotions and actions that I learned the nervous system plays apart in a lot of emotions.

Your emotional regulation challenges are not a flaw in your personality; they are a predictable, frustrating, and very real neurological consequence of your brain injury. Your system is simply overloaded, operating in a state of hyper-vigilance that is exhausting and isolating. Understanding this neurological reality is the first crucial step toward healing.

The Science Behind Emotional Dysregulation After TBI

A TBI damages the way the brain processes information and manages emotional responses. The part of the brain that detects danger (think of it as your brain’s “alarm system”) becomes highly sensitive and can trigger intense emotional and physical reactions to things that are not actually threatening.

Simultaneously, the brain systems responsible for self-control and logic (the “brakes”) struggle to function efficiently. This disruption in the brain’s internal communication pathways makes it incredibly difficult to calm down once an emotional reaction starts. This is why you might feel an intense, overwhelming urge to cry, shout, or retreat it’s the brain’s immediate, panicked response, amplified by the injury.

The Makia Perspective

In 2016, I suffered a brain injury, a swilling in my cerebellum called cerebellitis. This case was unknown for an adolescent and is only found in infants. So no one knew how I would recover.

Thankfully, I made a full recovery with all the help from my family and friends. I learned to walk and talk again. My mental health slowly declined in the later years of not processing the trauma that had largely impacted me on so many levels. During this period of recognising the trauma my body had gone through. Came many ups and downs of the way my brain processed things. I would cry all the time and push loved ones away as I wanted to be by myself.

It wasn’t until a few month ago that I realised that everything I still feel is linked to my trauma from the brain injury.

I healed in the only way I knew how, spirituality was a big thing on social media in 2020 so I decided to follow it and it helped me find a sense of peace and calm.

practicing:

• Meditation
• Journaling
• Mindset
• Manifestation

But I was still feeling numb and unable to process my feelings. That was when I discovered that my nervous system was dysregulated. Once I discovered this and began to learn and change. I felt so much calmer, I didn’t know I could feel so calm.

These 3 tips I am about to share helped me feel calmer and are approved by counsellors and psychologists to regulate the nervous

Tip 1: Reconnect With Your Body Through Regulation Cues

If your brain’s processing is struggling, we must start with your body’s ability to signal safety. Grounding techniques are powerful because they bypass the struggling, logical brain and communicate directly with your internal state.

When you feel a sudden surge of emotion, try a slow, deliberate body scan, noticing your feet on the floor, the pressure of your clothes, or the sounds around you. The simplest, most powerful tool is slow, rhythmic breathing (e.g., box breathing). By consciously changing your physiology, slowing your heart rate and deepening your breath. You provide non-verbal, physical proof to your system that the immediate danger has passed. This body-first calming is essential for supporting brain rewiring and building new patterns of safety.

Tip 2: Build Emotional Tolerance Slowly

Recovery is not about eliminating uncomfortable emotions;

it’s about expanding your “window of tolerance.”

This concept describes the optimal zone where you can manage your feelings effectively. After a TBI, this window shrinks dramatically. The key is gentle, consistent effort, not sudden exposure. Tools like structured journaling help you label and understand your feelings without judgment. Integrating short, scheduled rest periods throughout the day, even just five minutes of quiet time. This helps reset your system before it hits overload. Embrace self-compassion and careful pacing. Recognize that every moment you choose to pause, breathe, or rest is an act of neurological healing, not laziness or failure.

Tip 3: Create an Environment That Supports a Calm System

Since your brain is easily overwhelmed, your external environment is now a critical part of your treatment plan.

Commit to reducing overstimulation: minimize excessive noise, turn off unnecessary screens, and reduce or eliminate stimulants like caffeine, which artificially increase your body’s arousal level.

Create soft routines, consistent times for waking, eating, and sleeping as predictability is deeply calming to a damaged brain. Finally, cultivate supportive relationships. Communicate your needs clearly to loved ones, explaining that noise and stress physically hurt your brain’s capacity to process. External calm acts as a powerful buffer, giving your internal healing mechanisms the space they need to mend.

Conclusion
You’re Healing, Not Overreacting

If you take one message away, let it be this: Your feelings are valid, and your struggle with emotional regulation is directly linked to the physical trauma your brain endured.

It is a sign that you are healing, not a confirmation of weakness. Retraining your system, through body cues, emotional pacing, and environmental calm is a challenging but necessary part of TBI recovery.

It takes time, patience, and repetition, but with every deep breath and every moment of self-compassion, you are guiding your brain back toward regulation and resilience. You are strong, and you are worthy of this slow, careful healing.

Remember, it all starts with self love.

-M