What It Actually Costs to Show Up
The past couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of things that don't come naturally to me.
I'm running two workshops this month, an in-person session in Barrie on March 8th and an online one on March 14th, and getting it out into the world has meant promoting myself openly, talking about my work constantly, asking people to share my stuff, and being visible in ways that feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. All of it in service of something I genuinely believe in, but that doesn't mean it's been easy.
I know my warning signals. My stomach goes first, that yuck feeling that sits there and won't leave. Then the headaches when I've pushed past what my body was trying to tell me. I know these signals. And sometimes I still ignore them anyway.
Here's what I know from both my training as a social worker and my own lived experience: when we consistently override our body's signals, our nervous system has to work harder to bring us back to baseline. It isn't a character flaw or a lack of resilience. It's just how we're wired. The cost of ignoring the signals isn't immediate, it accumulates. And then one day the thing that used to take twenty minutes to shake off takes two days.
What I've learned is that when I stay ahead of it, everything is more manageable. So right now I'm being intentional about the things that keep me regulated: my daily meditation practise, moments of actual rest and fun, and when the nervous energy builds up, mine lives right in my stomach, I move it out. Not exercise. Just shaking it out, literally. Five minutes.
We are so used to pushing through that we start to accept the stomach yuck and the headaches as just normal. Part of the deal. As women especially, we are conditioned to keep going, keep producing, keep showing up for everyone else. But that chronic push has a cost, and our bodies keep the score.
It isn't normal and it doesn't have to be.
That's what my workshop is about. Not learning tools you don't already have somewhere in you. It's about actually using them, especially when everything in you wants to just keep pushing.
Grounding in Self-Trust When Life Feels Uncertain is happening Saturday March 14th at 10 AM EST. Ninety minutes together online. It is $37 CAD. We learn, we practise, and you leave with tools you actually used that day. Everyone who registers gets the replay and a follow up resource guide, so if the timing doesn't work you can still get the content.
I hope to see you there.
