YOU CALL IT ANXIETY — BUT IT’S YOUR BODY BEGGING YOU TO STOP PRETENDING YOU’RE OKAY

A GinkgoMinds Blog by Jo Oswin

Let’s stop calling it burnout. Let’s stop calling it low self-esteem. Let’s stop calling it social anxiety. You’re not shy. You’re not lazy.You’re not “too sensitive.”

You’re traumatised.And your body is exhausted from performing sanity.

YOU WEREN’T MADE TO BE THIS CALM

That blank face? That steady voice? That hyper-functioning, always-smiling, always-holding-it-together version of you?

That’s not regulation. That’s rehearsed. That’s survival.

You learned to downplay your fear so you wouldn’t get labelled dramatic. You learned to suppress your rage so no one would leave. You learned to hold your pain like a secret,so well hidden that now you don’t even see it anymore.

But your body does.

YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM ISN’T BROKEN — IT’S BRILLIANT

It numbs out because it had to.It dissociates because being here was once too much.

It hyperfixates, overthinks, spirals—because that’s what helped you predict danger.

And now you sit in meetings, go on dates, raise kids, post reels—while your nervous system is screaming:“THIS IS NOT SAFE.”

But no one hears it. Because you’ve gotten too good at hiding it. Even from yourself.

STOP PERFORMING “OKAY” IN PLACES THAT ARE KILLING YOU

Every time you stay in that job, that relationship, that role—every time you tolerate what your body wants to escape—you are betraying the one system that has always tried to save you: Your own body.

It’s not dramatic for wanting rest. It’s not weak for flinching.It’s not dysfunctional for shutting down when you’re touched too fast.

Your nervous system is the part of you that remembers what the mind has minimised.

And it’s not asking you to fix it.It’s asking you to listen.

🖤 COACHING TASK FOR THE BRAVE

WHERE AM I STILL PERFORMING SAFETY TO STAY ACCEPTED?

Write the damn list.Don’t censor. Don’t spiritualise. Don’t “well, but they’re trying…” your way out of it.

Say it like it is.

And then pick one thing to stop doing this week.Just one.Not because it’s easy—but because your body is begging for truth, not politeness.

xx Josi