Letting go is never easy.
The hardest part is what comes next. Once you've cut ties with the past that's holding you back, how do you move forward to the future?
Do you analyse every moment of your past?
Do you explore reasons and patterns and events? Or do you cut your losses and move on?
I have a tendency to fixate. I have a tendency to over analyse and it is not always the best thing to do. I am learning that knowing the reason for something doesn't always help in preventing or changing the pattern. However some analysis is necessary. You must recognise the pattern. That means you have to look back to see patterns forming. Once that is done however, you need not dwell on the whys and why nots, instead all that is necessary is to evaluate if the pattern works for you and how to change the pattern if necessary.
It may seem on the face of it that the body's physiological response to emotion and to stress is actually the same. However, it is not. While emotion is necessary and aids in the interpretation of our world, a stress reaction is not.
Looking over a cliff causes an emotional reaction that we identify as fear. The body prepares itself. The lungs start drawing in breath starting the power plants in the muscles. The blood vessels dilate bringing more oxygen rich blood to the muscle. The body start secreting sweat to get started on cooling down the body.
A stress reaction like anxiety, starts off in the same way and perhaps can be mistaken for fear. However, the lungs don't draw in breath effectively because the hormones that are starting the process are completely different. The fear or flight response doesn't fully kick in. It's a short circuit that happens and the energy builds with nowhere to go. The energy doesn't dissipate, and in looking for an outlet the chemicals end up in the brain, re-wiring and re-writing neural pathways.
The first step in the healing process is to recognise and differentiate emotions and stress reactions.
Baby steps.
Just Me.
