Shame
Shame doesn’t just shape your thoughts—it rewires your nervous system. It doesn’t live in your head alone; it burrows into your body, tampering with your baseline functioning. You might think you’re just overthinking or shutting down, but it’s your system bracing for judgment before a word even leaves your mouth.
Shame trains the brain to anticipate rejection, so your choices start revolving around who’s safest to be around, not what’s most true to you. It hijacks your prefrontal cortex—the part of your brain that helps with clear thinking, planning, and regulation—and pulls you into survival patterns: fawning, freezing, appeasing. Over time, the words you never said, the truth you swallowed, the reactions you held back—they don’t disappear. They get stored in muscle tension, gut issues, migraines, and tight chests. You don’t just lose your voice—you carry its echo in your body. And when that shame goes unspoken long enough, it becomes the lens through which you see yourself: broken, too much, not enough. Not because you are—but because that belief kept you safe when being fully seen never felt like an option.
Start letting go with two simple but powerful steps:
Body Truth Checks — Set a timer twice a day and ask yourself, “What does my body want to say that my mouth won’t?” Then, write it down with no filter—no fixing, no judging. This helps bring repressed truth from your body back into conscious awareness.
Opposite Action Practice — Each time you notice yourself shrinking, appeasing, or people-pleasing out of shame, pause and do the opposite in a small way—speak a preference, ask a question, say no. Tiny moments of self-truth rewire the very pathways shame once claimed.
#actuallyican #recovery #traumahealing #mentalhealth
