You’re Not Crazy — It’s Your Nervous System: Understanding emotional responses

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking “Why am I like this?” or “Why can’t I just get it together?”, you’re not alone.
So many of us walk around believing our reactions are personal failures—when in reality, they’re physiological responses.

You’re not overly emotional.
You’re not too sensitive.
You’re not “crazy.”

It’s your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do: protect you.

We’ve Been Taught to Pathologize Protection

Most people were never taught how the nervous system works, yet we expect ourselves to operate like machines—always productive, always regulated, always “fine.”

But the nervous system doesn’t care about deadlines, social expectations, or how others perceive us.
Its job is survival, not perfection.

So when you shut down in a meeting, burst into tears after holding it together all day, snap at someone you love, or suddenly lose all motivation—it’s not a moral failure.

It’s your system saying:
“I’m overwhelmed. I need support.”

Your Nervous System Remembers What You Don’t

Many reactions that feel “irrational” actually make perfect sense when seen through a biological lens.

  • Difficulty trusting? Your system learned trust wasn’t safe.

  • People-pleasing? Your system learned connection required self-abandonment.

  • Feeling frozen or stuck? Your body doesn’t yet believe movement is safe.

  • Hyper-productivity? A brilliant survival strategy that helped you stay valued.

These were adaptive responses. They kept you afloat.
And now, they’re simply outdated patterns waiting to be gently rewired.

Stress, Burnout, and Dysregulation Are Not Personality Traits

So many of us think burnout means we’re weak, unmotivated, or not cut out for leadership.
But burnout is a physiological event—a sign of chronic activation without recovery.

When the nervous system stays in survival mode for too long, it becomes harder to:

  • focus

  • regulate emotions

  • make decisions

  • feel joy

  • rest

  • connect

  • trust

Again, not a character flaw.
A capacity issue.

And capacity can be rebuilt. Emotional Release Therapy gives your nervous system the capacity to let go of the old stories and live with calm and peace.

Healing Begins When You Stop Blaming Yourself

You can’t shame a nervous system into safety.
You can’t push, think, or hustle your way back into regulation.

But you can support your system with practices that increase safety, capacity, and ease—slowly, consistently, compassionately.

Small shifts make a big difference:

  • grounding techniques

  • breath patterns that down-regulate stress

  • somatic practices that release stored tension

  • boundaries that protect your energy

  • emotional release therapy

  • nervous system-informed burnout prevention strategies

This is the work that transforms not just how you cope,
but how you live.

You’re Not Broken. You’re Brilliantly Wired for Survival.

When you understand how your nervous system operates, self-judgment softens.
When you learn to work with your system instead of against it, everything opens.

Capacity grows.
Relationships shift.
Resilience strengthens.
Peace becomes possible.

You’re not crazy.
Your body is communicating.
And when you listen, everything changes.

julie otte