As a former jet engine mechanic in the Air Force, I love complicated things. More specifically, I love to simplify them.

That’s why in this blog post, I’d like to discuss in simple terms one of the most complicated systems we have within us – the nervous system. And I believe understanding how it really works is crucial to knowing yourself fully and healing trauma with great success.

Your nervous system is responsible for sending signals throughout your body in a complex fashion, performing a myriad of functions. As much as its workings are complicated, its core function is very simple – it does all that work to keep you in balance.

When you encounter any trauma, your nervous system puts many processes in motion to regulate your body and mind, bringing you back to a balanced state. And all of this happens in the so-called window of tolerance.

Now, the window of tolerance encompasses many things that ensure that you can come back from an overwhelming event. But at the most basic, this is the space where you can feel truly connected with life.

What does this mean?

Many events can trigger anger, irritation, and overwhelm, which results in hyperarousal. I’m sure you’ve felt these emotions before, and you know that they can be hard to handle. So if you don’t have a healthy way of coping with them, you’ll go beyond your window of tolerance.

Now, we’ve established that your body craves balance. That’s why hyperarousal is often followed by hypoarousal. It’s how your nervous system compensates for experiencing all those strong negative emotions. 

As you can imagine, it can be quite disturbing to go through all those volatile states. Because of that, increasing your window of tolerance is critical for maintaining balance in a healthy way.

But to do that, you must first understand how trauma works and how it manifests in your body. You can check those posts out here and here

Once you check those posts out, move onto the next blog post to keep learning how to increase your window of tolerance!

P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you increase your sense of self-worth so you can say “no” use your voice, stand up for yourself, and feel more confident:

1. Listen to The Bold Survivor Podcast

Join me each week as I interview survivors, experts and drop juicy tidbits of my own. Each episode contains powerful information to help you heal your wounding, connect better, and own that beautiful innate value that lives inside Every. Single. One. of. Us! —  Click Here

2. Grab a free copy of my book

It’s my signature system that takes you down into your core story and back up like a Phoenix to fly free. — Click Here

3. Join The Bold Survivor Collective and connect with survivors who are healing too It’s my Facebook community where bold survivors learn to heal, rise up, and be the bold beautiful souls they were called to be. —  Click Here

4. Join my Year-Long Group Coaching Membership Program

I’m bringing together women who are eager to end the self-doubt, shame and guilt….If you’d like to work with me on your emotional wellbeing plans… Click Here

XOXO,

Contessa Akin