It’s Feel Good Friday. While most of the world is unwinding tonight with a glass of wine, a joint, a few beers, a couple of cocktails or a double of anything strong enough to mute the week…
And once upon a time, that was me. I was deep in it, self-soothing with weed, with alcohol, with coke or just about anything else. I’ve done it all. If there was a way to numb, I had probably tried it. My favourite drink was vodka on the rocks with a squeeze of lemon. Wine wasn’t a treat, it was a lifeline. Weed was my escape hatch. Coke turned the volume up until everything felt like static. All of it was regulation—dysregulated, desperate regulation.
But not anymore. That might not sound like much in the era of sober-curious Instagram captions—but for me, it’s everything.
It’s been about nine years since I last had a drink. Im not one of those who keep count, it just became my new normal after the first 2 years of struggling. It’s not just a milestone—it’s a portal I stepped through into a different way of being. My nervous system doesn’t need to be soothed by substances now. It needs rituals. It needs nature. It needs truth. Love. Compassion. Acceptance.
Right now, my top nervous system rituals are simple but potent:
- Uncomplicated Breathwork. Just that. Just breath. Sometimes fiery. Sometimes soft. Sometimes somewhere in between. Its all about what my body is asking for in that very moment.
- Mind-Body Mapping. This is my favourite way to meet my inner blocks, emotions, and sub-personalities and track how they’re affecting my ability to create and receive.
- Nature Walks. Not as a flex. Just as a way to remember that I am as much nature as I am a complex human being. If you think about it, we are just plant with more complicated emotions.
- Burning Letters. Writing down everything thats circulating in my mind and letting the fire take it.
These aren’t just practices. They’re choices. Each one is a way I choose to meet myself instead of numb myself. A way I choose presence instead of escape. A way to allow myself to sink deeper into being.
And that’s the frequency I live at now. It’s not always easy, oh no, far from it. I still ache. I still cry. I still scream (while diving under the sea is my favourite btw) Sometimes I still want to run and disappear. But I don’t numb. Not anymore.
It’s real. And it’s powerful. And honestly, that glass of wine has nothing on it.
If you’re on a similar path, if you’re done with patchwork solutions and ready for deep healing… Come find me in the woods, the rituals, or my DMs.
