06/01/2026
We all have these 3 friends living in our nervous system and each one comes with its own personality, perspective, and story about what’s happening.
The interesting part is that whichever friend is in the driver’s seat influences what you see, how you feel, and what choices feel available to you.
Ventral is the friend we all love spending time with. The world feels safer. Connection feels easier. You have access to curiosity, creativity, play, and possibility. When you’re here, don’t rush past it. Soak it in. The more we consciously experience safety, connection, and joy, the more familiar they become to our nervous system. Which means it becomes easier for us to get back to it.
Sympathetic is the friend that thinks everything is urgent. You’ll feel restless, anxious, irritated, overwhelmed, or like you should be doing something right now. Instead of forcing yourself to calm down, move some of that energy. Walk. Stretch. Dance. Breathe. Give your body somewhere to put the energy it’s trying to mobilize. This state actually loves you and really just wants to protect you but sometimes we need to let it know that the threat it is perceiving isn’t actually the danger it thinks it is.
Dorsal is the friend that shows up when you’ve been carrying too much for too long. So the only way it knows how to help is to shut you down. So everything feels heavy, distant, and harder to access. Start small here. Open the curtains. Step outside. Text a friend. Reconnect with life one tiny step at a time.
None of these friends are bad.
They’re all trying to protect you.
The more you learn to recognize who’s visiting, the easier it becomes to give your nervous system what it actually needs.
Which friend has been hanging out with you the most lately?