Soothing Sensory Overload in the Time of Winter and Ongoing Pandemics
Our work culture in this country perpetuates work over leisure and vilifies rest outside of Sundays. That leads to messages of rest as indulgent and luxurious or even sinful rather than being a natural right as we’ve been talking. This culture is toxic also because it can keep the body in a state of active stress and overwhelm.
We need genuine rest in relatively safe contexts for our bodies to get into homeostasis - rest and digest mode, you may have heard that phrase. Otherwise we stay in the negative feedback cycle below:
Without rest or ways to break this cycle/feedback loop, we function in flight or flight mode - staying stressed, overstimulated, activated - and our body adapts to that as the new normal. Thus allowing us to carry on but never getting out of that activation. Instead our activation levels can increase, as we’ve seen with the mass amounts of burnout and depression.
So perhaps given that culture and society right now, it’s not surprising that sensory overload has been mentioned by participants in our Grow Boldly sessions. I have felt this, too, and try to schedule intentional break from social media to break the pattern of mindless scrolling and subconscious comparison. I also know that for some folks they can be more intentional about social and tech use - more power to you folks - that’s not my strength right now. My creative and spiritual rest needs require a break from that type of visual and mental stimulation. That makes sense given if I want to create my own work, I need spaciousness and distance from others ‘noise’.
Needless to say, I’ve been learning along with you all about all the different types of rest that we actually need. I shared last month about how I was (re)learning to use winter break as a time to rest not play catch up. Which was a big shift from growing up in a work culture that required weekends and break times to be a lot of catching up on article or research writing as well as prepping for next semester courses.
Add on top, the culture of US higher education glorifies overworking and busyness as a badge. A Grow Boldly workshop participant shared that they felt they “can’t rest unless they’ve done a certain level of work that deserves a reward.” All too often, employees feel they are always on call and have to be accessible under the guise of salaried positions requiring whatever it takes to get the job done.
Yet the job is never done as it is typically shifting. An empty space gets filled in with new tasks or projects especially when clear, communicated boundaries don’t exist.
From a place of overload, it, of course, is really difficult to connect, to feel pleasure, to rest intentionally. Unsurprisingly then, when I’ve been in that space, I would numb or zone out as my dissociative coping response - which just means that I had no capacity to engage because I was living in constant stream of stress and hyperaroused nervous system.
I saw a culture of disassociating when I taught graduate students who were in a professional prep degree in higher ed and I would bring up the need for scheduled reflection time. Versions of the same few responses would occur:
I don’t have energy for anything else but numbing so don’t shame me.
There’s no time and it’s not valued by myself and/or my supervisor/work culture.
I don’t know what self-care actually means if not numbing.
Patriarchy and capitalism of course would benefit from employees who are disassociated and numbed out. But you don’t benefit nor does innovation and change.
When do you disassociate or numb?
When you find yourself engaging in disassociation, can you notice if it is bringing you rest?
If so, carry on. And if not, is there something else that would offer more rest?
Here are some practices that can soothe and create space for sensory rest:
Nature, of course. Walk. Sit. Look. Hike. Bike. Anything outside. Nature has a long tradition of healing and engaging all the sense, and now science has caught up to ‘prove’ it in case you were still skeptical.
Turn off sounds. I used to love jazz music in the background. I grew up in a house where the TV is on even during dinner in the background. I’m not sure when silence became the sound I craved. For some who are neurodivergent, turning off sounds can be particularly needed or being intentional about background sound.
Intentional use of social media and electronics. I still cringe at the Outlook Mail ding of a new message. And I love my apple watch but hate the buzz to stand every hour because it is one more thing vying for my focus. I’m working to be intentional about my time on the computer/phone - what I am working on? Why am I here? Does this feel relaxing or purposeful?
Books, games, or conversation before bed. If you’re like me, you’ve kept your phone on your nightstand. Well, here I am recommitting to leaving it out in the living room so that before bedtime I’m reading a book, or chatting, or playing a game with the kiddo. It’s so easy to get caught up scrolling on the phone which becomes the opposite of restful for me.
Now your turn:
How do you recognize when you are in sensory overload?
How are you inviting in more sensory rest or respite?
How can you shift from sensory stimulation to deeper connections that restore senses?
How can you create a little more quiet in your daily routine?
*Caveat. I write a lot about personal self-care as that’s who reads this - you- a human. Know that I believe there is much responsibility at the level of society and organizations to shift culture out of unrestful capitalistic productivity culture. When I consult with institutions or departments within academics, I discuss the both/and model because what has become evident over these last couple years is that our systems are heavily weighed to benefit organizations not the workers/humans.
So if disassociating and numbing with binge watching Ted Lasso on repeat is what you need to do right now, please do so until you can get to a place of building your reserves back up.