Why It “feels like death”
When a simple task feels like a lot of effort.
This comment popped up on a video I posted on Tiktok: “Before and during I am fine but after it feels like death.”
This person was referring to how they feel after their menstrual cycle, but anyone who lives in survival (aka with stress and trauma) can relate to this on some level.
The ups and extreme downs: one day feeling fine, the next feeling like a buffalo herd stomped all over you, and you can’t get yourself back up.
Many people spend their days, their life, feeling like they’re dying.
For many years, I felt like I was rotting away in bed. I could not get up. My body felt too heavy to move. Simple tasks felt like too much effort. To be honest, not much got done during this time of my life.
Imagine fighting for your life 24/7 without ever getting a break. That’s what your body is going through if you’re living in survival. It doesn’t matter if your rational mind tries to convince you that “you’re fine”– you can’t trick nature.
This is why I cringe when western proclaimed experts and mainstream media beat around the bush with their self-care lists and “it’s-all-in-your-mind” — statements. First, it doesn’t help people. Second, it makes people (like me years ago) feel like they are lazy or not trying hard enough.
I bet there are millions of people out there, maybe you’re one of them, who think they’re introverts who just don’t enjoy being out there in the world, participating in life. When in reality, they’re just tapped out from living in survival. And no amount of positive affirmations, pep talks, and bath salts are going to help with that.
The symptoms of exhaustion; the need to isolate, and the reason why it “feels like death” is because people are taught to control their natural responses instead of letting them run their course.
You know how after some time, dams start to break because of all the pressure? That’s what’s happening to people in Western societies. All that stress and trauma held inside of people, tight tight tight. The walls are bound to break sometime.
If you feel like you’re dying, or so exhausted that you can barely get out of bed; whether it’s because of a natural process (e.g. menstrual cycles, pregnancy, birth, grief, sadness, fear, anger, stress), or trauma from your past; it all boils down to this:
Your body is going through a survival response.
This is natural. These are processes we go through as human beings and your body go into a survival response to help you through that experience.
But what is not natural and should not be part of your life is living with these survival energies (hormones). After a process is done, the survival response is supposed to finish so that the energies can leave your body. This makes it possible for you to rest and heal up.
The problem is that people don’t know that. They’ve been separated from the knowledge and understanding of who they are for so long that they never get a chance to rest up and heal. So when a new process starts, maybe another period, or something new that is stressful happens, it all just piles on.
You turn into that dam, holding it all in, and it’s not a natural state to live in. It creates an imbalance that makes you “feel like death” when you should really be feeling alive.
If you’re interested in learning more, watch this free mini-class where I break it down.
Pewkayal (until we meet again),
Mandy
