Hot Girl Healing: Indulging In Relaxation & Not Feeling Guilty About It

It’s funny that so many people have been fooled into thinking that relaxing is a bad thing. Healing is found in slowing down. When you allow yourself to relax, you activate your parasympathetic nervous system. This essentially helps your body recover from stress. So next time you’re doing nothing, remember you’re healing. I’d like to have a much-needed conversation on relaxation. We live in a fast-paced society; there’s always something to do or get done. From trying to maintain balance within your career, catering to your family, maintaining a social life, and just performing the basic necessities to take care of and nurture yourself, there doesn’t seem to be much time left for relaxation. Within our modern-day society, I think that relaxation has become a very underdeveloped skill. It’s actually something that I myself struggle with too, which is why I felt compelled to blog about this.

Relaxation

Relaxation is defined as a state of being free from tension and anxiety, allowing individuals to rest and feel comfortable. In essence, relaxation serves as a counterbalance to stress, enabling the body to recover and maintain equilibrium. It’s not only about leisure activities but also involves intentional practices that help alleviate physical and mental strain, leading to improved overall health and emotional resilience.

So, I’ve come to notice that a lot of people consider laying in bed and scrolling through social media a method of relaxation. When they’re actually doing something that overstimulates the nervous system as opposed to activating the parasympathetic nervous system and allowing you to relax, which counteracts the whole purpose behind relaxation. The reason why I think relaxation is absolutely essential is because when we allow ourselves to decompress, we allow ourselves to heal, and I’m sure there are many of you that probably think that there’s nothing that you need to heal from; however, given how hyper-paced our society is, our nervous systems can become very easily dysregulated from everyday stressors in life. So when I refer to healing, I am referring to you intentionally allowing your nervous system to become regulated and balanced again, which improves your overall life experience. Like who wants to feel stressed all the time anyway?

You need to learn how to relax in order to heal. Learning to relax is essential for regulating your nervous system because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts the stress-induced “fight or flight” response managed by the sympathetic nervous system. You can think of your nervous system as the body’s communication network. It helps control everything you do, from breathing to moving your muscles. Let’s get into the two main parts of the nervous system so that you can better understand how your body processes stress and relaxation.

The Nervous System

There’s Two Main Parts:

• Sympathetic Nervous System: This is like your body’s alarm system. When you’re stressed or scared, it kicks in to help you deal with danger. This is known as the “fight or flight” response. It makes your heart beat faster, increases your breathing rate, and gets your muscles ready to react. (It’s the let’s throw hands part of your nervous system.)

• Parasympathetic Nervous System: This is like the body’s calming system. It helps you relax and recover after the danger has passed. It slows down your heart rate and helps you feel more at ease. (It’s the “healing girl era” part of your nervous system.)

Overstimulation On The Nervous System

When you’re unable to relax, you develop a tendency to keep your nervous system stimulated, which then leads to an overstimulated nervous system. A person with an overstimulated nervous system will usually show up as someone who’s always active. They most likely always have the TV on, the radio. They are always scrolling through social media. Individuals with an overactive nervous system are essentially always finding ways of distracting themselves so that they’re unable to relax and go into that healing mode. If you’re someone who has gone through a lot of trauma in life or you’ve had to overcome a lot of intensely negative experiences, then there is a possibility that you potentially suffer from an overactive nervous system. Healing is feeling, and when we allow ourselves to activate our parasympathetic nervous system and go into that relaxation mode, a lot of unresolved stories that have been running rampant in the back of our mind begin to come to the surface. So if this is the case for you, I know it can be uncomfortable and sometimes even difficult, but I suggest that you simply allow yourself to go through it and feel your emotions because that’s the only way to get through it. When you’re unable to relax, you’re unable to heal because, in order to heal, you must have a relaxed nervous system. A regulated nervous system.

An unregulated nervous system can show up in several ways. It can show up in moodiness like constantly being on edge, overwhelmed, snappy, irritable, and reactive. When someone has an unregulated nervous system, they may overreact or underreact to situations. They may show inappropriate responses like rage outbursts or passive aggression. This dysregulation can also lead to a plethora of mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and sleep deprivation. In the long run, someone who doesn’t know how to regulate their nervous system might experience chronic pain, digestive issues, and changes in sleep patterns and stress-coping abilities that develop over time. So when you relax, you essentially heal. The problem is that in a world full of stimulation, so many of us have forgotten how to feel relaxed, while some have simply never even learned how to do this. If you struggle with relaxing, these are a couple of things that you can do to activate that parasympathetic nervous system.

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing exercises help activate the parasympathetic nervous system by slowing down the heart rate and promoting relaxation, so this is a method that you can implement to help you ease into relaxation. When you take slow, deep breaths, you signal to your body that it is safe to relax, which counteracts the stress response. This essentially increases oxygen flow to the brain, reduces tension, and helps shift the body from a state of stress to calmness. So this is a method that you should definitely try if you struggle with getting into a state of relaxation.

Getting in Lite Movement

Getting in lite movement is another great way of cultivating relaxation in your life. It doesn’t even have to be an intense workout. Physical activities like walking, yoga, or dancing release endorphins, which are natural mood enhancers, and help reduce stress levels while cultivating relaxation. Obviously, it’s best if you can implement some sort of routine where you’re getting in daily movement.

Mindfulness Meditation

This next one is my personal favorite to lean on when I really need to get myself in a calm state, and yes, it is exactly what you’re thinking, meditation. Mindfulness and meditation practices focus your thoughts and encourage a state of calm awareness, which can really help reduce stress and anxiety. When you concentrate on the present moment, you can quiet the mind and basically reduce the production of stress hormones like cortisol, and in doing this, you’re allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to take over. So yeah, definitely recommend starting a daily meditation practice; you’ll start to notice the benefits more and more through time. This is definitely one that I attest to. I have a meditation practice for my morning and night routine that I’ve had for years now, and it’s really helped my mental health, so seriously, you might really want to consider this one.

Cold Plunges

Of course I can’t forget about one of the most popular methods to cultivate relaxation in your life, cold plunges. Cold plunges can stimulate the vagus nerve, which is a key component of the parasympathetic nervous system. This stimulation can improve mood and reduce anxiety, which helps the body relax and recover from stress. You can do this one once a week. It’s become really popular lately with the rise of celebrities sharing their experiences with cold plunges, especially athletes. 

Cultivating Relaxation

There you guys have it! These are a couple of methods that you guys can lean into when trying to cultivate more relaxation in your life. I know that it’s not always the easiest thing to allow yourself to decompress, but it’s something that your body genuinely deserves. Don’t feel guilty for taking care of yourself or nurturing yourself. I know we live in a society that’s constantly making us feel bad for resting or for taking some time to ourselves, but the alternative to relaxation is burnout. So next time that you’re doing nothing, don’t feel guilty about it. I know this can be especially difficult when you come from a different culture. I’m the first generation in my family, and growing up, relaxation was always deemed laziness. It was never rewarded within my family dynamic, and this has made it really hard for me to be able to ease into relaxation as I got older. Implementing these methods has helped me so much, so if you relate to that, then I hope that this helps you too. In a world with more regulated nervous systems, I do truly believe there would be less f**kery, so let’s make this world a better place by taking care of ourselves.

As Gandhi once stated, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Thank you guys for taking the time to read through this blog. I applaud you for leaning deeper into your healing journey. There’s only a few of us who intentionally do this, so I want you to give yourself a pat on the back. I wish you much luck in this life journey, and if you liked anything you read in this blog, I would highly appreciate it if you left your feedback by leaving a comment, and make sure to subscribe to my newsletter.

Till next time, I love you guys!