Latest / Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey / What Happens When You Stop Bracing for Impact

Transcript

What Happens When You Stop Bracing for Impact · Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And this is episode 25.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: What happens when you stop bracing for impact?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a way the body tells the truth long before the mind catches up.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I notice it in my shoulders, that tiny lift, that tightening.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: like I'm preparing for something to go wrong.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's in the breath held just a little too long.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's the jaw tight as if I'm waiting for the next thing to land.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's the quiet habit of bracing for impact.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us don't even realize we're doing it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: we brace in conversations we brace in traffic we brace when the phone rings we brace
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: when life feels unpredictable and the irony is half
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: the time nothing is actually happening we are reacting
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: to ghosts old patterns old fears old stories but something shifts something softens
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: when we stop
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Bracing When we let the shoulders drop When we let the breath move again
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: When we trust that not every moment is a crisis waiting to happen Today,
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about that shift About what becomes possible
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: when we stop living like we are preparing for impact
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: and start living like we are allowed to be here fully without armor.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Once you start noticing the bracing, something interesting happens.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: You realize how automatic it is.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us learned to brace decades ago, decades ago, long before we had the language for it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: We learned it in childhood homes where we weren't sure what version
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: of someone would walk through the door.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: We learned it in workplaces where we were expected to be perfect.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: We learned it in relationships where we tiptoed around someone else's moods.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: We learned it in a culture that tells us to be strong,
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: when what we really need is to just feel safe.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Bracing becomes a posture, a habit, a way of living, and the body doesn't forget.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: But here is the part that still amazes me.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: The moment you notice you're bracing, you're already softening.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Awareness is the first unclench.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's as simple as catching yourself holding your breath.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's realizing your shoulders are halfway to your ears.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's that tiny internal flinch, the one that says, what now?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And when you see it, you get to choose differently.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: You get to say, not this time, not today.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need to brace for impact that isn't coming.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the freedom begins.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing I keep learning over and over in different ways.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: When we stop bracing, life doesn't suddenly become perfect.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it does become more livable, more breathable, more human.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you're not tensed for the next blow, you can actually feel the moment you're in.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can hear your own thoughts again.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can sense your own center.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can respond instead of react.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where steadiness begins.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not in being unshakable, but in being willing to unbrace.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you notice yourself tightening this week,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: if you catch your breath getting small,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: if you feel that familiar lift in the shoulders, just pause.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Soften one thing.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let yourself come back into your body.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to brace for impact that isn't coming.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're allowed to be here fully without armor.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a part of the space and thank you for choosing even for a moment
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: to unbrace with me.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'll be here next Monday and I look forward to having you here with me.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're enjoying these Monday moments together as I am,
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: you can subscribe and have each episode delivered right to you.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: so until next time stay open stay curious stay kind to yourself