How I Regulate My Nervous System (After Growing Up Not Knowing This Was Even Possible)

When a young woman asked me how I regulate my nervous system, I had to stop and think: did I even know this was a thing growing up? No. We didn't have language for it. We just knew some people were calm and collected, and others were agitated and anxious. But I never knew the calm person had a regulated nervous system, or that this was something you could practice and teach yourself. We just coped. That's all we did. So I'm grateful we're in this era of naming things, because now we have common language to discuss what we're experiencing. Here's what works for me: tapping (learned it in Indonesia when my hypervigilance went through the roof living abroad), my wobble cushion where I rock myself, om chants where I feel the vibration in my body, Gregorian chants (my number one music consumed every year), meditation, breathing. I'm also putting rest into my routines now, exercising, doing my steps, and slowly teaching myself to move at a slower pace. Because growing up, I was always hypervigilant. I climbed my way up the ladder by being hypervigilant, by being high-functioning. But I recognize I can't be like that forever, it takes its toll. And in my forties now, I see it. I feel it. So I'm slowing down. But at pace. Because for people like me, we can't come to a complete stop.This one's for you if:1. You grew up not knowing nervous system regulation was even a thing you could learn.2. You've been hypervigilant your whole life and it's finally catching up with you.3. You're high-functioning and need tools that actually work for your nervous system.4. You're grateful we finally have language for what we're experiencing.Ready to find what works for you?This podcast is for women who are done performing. If you want more of this energy, the kind of conversation that reminds you who you actually arevisit wwdaglobal.com and step into the room.You'll get weekly insights, frameworks I don't share anywhere else, and a community of women who've stopped asking for permission.About Women Who Don't Apologise:Over 100 episodes exploring power, boundaries, capacity, and what it means to live on your own terms. Hosted by Patricia Haywood, lawyer, The Queen of Construction Contracts, Top 100 Woman in Construction, GC, and chief unapologetic mistress. For women 40+ who are exhausted from following everyone else's blueprint.